Table 1 Description of study variables, East Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia, January 2019–September 2020
Variables | Description | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
Dependent variable | ||
 Three postnatal visits/checkups | Attending three postnatal care visits to health facility/check-ups by health extension workers for the index delivery | Recoded as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ |
Independent variables | Â | Â |
Level I variables | Â | Â |
Individual level variables | Â | Â |
 Age | Age of the participant in completed years | A continuous variable and recoded into three categories 15–19, 20–29 and 30–49 |
 Level of education | The highest level of education that the mother attended | Categorized in to four groups: non-formal education, primary education (1–8), secondary education (9–12) and above 12 grade |
 Marital status | Marital status of respondents | Categorized in to four categories: single, married, separated, widowed |
 Wealth quantile | Questions were adopted from EDHS and wealth index was computed using principal component analysis | Categorized in to five categories: poorest, poor, medium, rich and richest |
 Parity | Total number of deliveries a mother had | Categorized in to three categories: one, 2–4 deliveries and ≥ 5 deliveries |
 One postnatal care | Attending at least one postnatal care visits to health facility/check-ups by health extension workers for the index delivery | Coded as 'Yes' or 'No' |
 ANC four visit | Attending four and above consecutive health facility visit for pregnancy check-ups | Coded as 'Yes' or 'No' |
 Place of delivery | Participants were asked about the place they gave birth to their last baby | Coded as ‘Institution’ or 'Home' |
 Knowledge of danger signs of the postnatal period | Participants were asked to list danger signs of the postnatal period: severe headache, blurred vision, convulsions, swollen hands/face, high fever, loss of consciousness, difficulty breathing, sever weakness, foul smelling vaginal discharge | A composite index of these nine variables was created and dichotomized using the mean score: those who score the mean and above were categorized as 'Knowledgeable', those who score below the mean were classified as 'Not knowledgeable' |
 Pregnancy wontedness | Participants were asked whether their last pregnancy was wonted or not | Coded as 'Yes' or 'No' |
 Compassionate and respectful care | A mother receiving MHC in a compassionate and respectful way: free of physical abuse, detention, non-confidential care, non-consented care, abandonment/neglect, and non-dignified care | Coded as 'Yes' or 'No' |
Level 2 variables | ||
Community level | ||
 Place of residence | The place where the respondent usually belongs | Coded as urban and rural |
 Average distance | Approximate distance of participants home from nearby health facility in minutes/on foot | A continuous variable, recoded in 2 categories: 0–30 min as '0' otherwise '1' |
 Influence of significant others in the process of receiving MHC | Participants were asked whether there is anyone who negatively influences them on the process of utilizing MHS at health facilities | Coded as 'Yes' or 'No' |
 Social support | Fourteen elements of SS questions: gets visits from significant others, getting useful advises, discussion on problems, having care at the time of labor and delivery, feeling loved, others thankful on them, getting help on household chores, help with money at emergency, help in transportation, card when sick, attending community level discussions, member of any religious cast, attending public meetings and help in case of conflicts | A principal component analysis was conducted, and a composite index was created using the principal components, and this was dichotomized using the mean score: those who score the mean and above were categorized as having 'Good social support' and otherwise 'Poor social support' |
Facility level | ||
 Receiving maternal health care free of charge | Respondents were asked about their facility MHC visit and the payment associated with it | Participants who always got the service free of charge coded as '1', most of the time as '2', and never '3' |
 CBBSI intervention | Kebele/clusters were identified as intervention and control based on the intervention (checklist based box system interventions on improving utilization of maternal health service utilization) received | Coded as intervention and control |