Assessment of Social Determinants Related to Mother and Child Healthcare Services: A Cross Sectional Study in Shiraz, Iran 2013

Background: Providing healthcare for mothers and children is one of the major health duties in any community and is considered as a health index. Regarding the analysis of healthcare services, Anderson’s behavioral model has received great attention. According to this model, social factors play a determining role in consumption of healthcare services. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine social factors affecting healthcare consumption. Patients and Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted on 735 women who were mothers and were aged between 15 and 49 years old. These subjects were selected through multi-stage cluster random sampling. The study data were collected using a researcher-made data gathering form. The data were entered into the SPSS software and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression tests with the enter method. The significance level was set at < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the studied women was 30.6 ± 5.7 years. Most of them (628 cases, 85.4%) were housewives and 317 (43.1%) had high school education. Besides, 570 women (77.6%) had no incomes and 94 (12.8%) mentioned that they had received no services during pregnancy. Nevertheless, 74 (56.1%), 248 (33.8%) and 74 (10.1%) had received services from governmental, private, or both centers, respectively. Women’s and husbands’ education levels as well as women’s occupation affected reception of services. Conclusions: According to the results, a large number of the subjects had not received services and in case they had, it was from the private sector. Moreover, social factors, such as education level, income and occupation, were influential factors regarding received services.