Comparative Analysis of Reproductive Healthcare Services Utilization among Women of Childbearing Age in Rural and Urban Areas of Rivers West Senatorial District, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to compare the utilization of reproductive healthcare services among women of childbearing age in rural and urban areas of Rivers West Senatorial District. A comparative research design was adopted with a population consisting of 354,556 women of reproductive age in Rivers West Senatorial District. A sample size of 440 was selected using a multi-staged sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.88. Data collected was analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) version 23.0 using mean and t-test. The result showed that reproductive healthcare services such as prenatal care services were utilized more in the urban areas than rural (= 3.45±0.93 vs 3.35±1.08), postnatal care (= 3.53±0.85 vs 3.41±0.97); STI prevention/management services (= 2.45±1.29 vs 2.40±1.31), while others services such as family planning and abortion care were utilized more in rural areas than urban (
= 2.07±1.17 vs 2.05±1.07) and (= 2.15±1.24 vs 1.75±1.14) respectively. The tested hypotheses revealed that statistically significant difference was found between rural and urban areas in the utilization of postnatal care (z-cal = 5.32, df = 435, p<0.05), family planning (z-cal = 36.87, df = 435, p<0.05), abortion care (z-cal = 4.44, df = 435, p<0.05), and STI prevention/management services (z-cal = 6.43, df = 435, p<0.05). It was concluded that, reproductive healthcare services were utilized more at the urban areas. It was recommended among others that the government should make prenatal care services more interesting at both urban and rural areas, by building and including aesthetic design.