Population characteristics and relationship between health practice and living children of women in Amphoe Bang Pa-in, Changwat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health practice and the number of living children of eligible women in Amphoe Bang Pa-in, Changwat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. The aim was to study health practices of mothers and children, particularly the primary health practices with respect to illness, health practice during pregnancies, at delivery and in the postpartum period, practices of, and attitudes toward child rearing, immunizations, and weaning age of the last baby. How the knowledge of, attitude toward and practice of family planning. Those would have relationship with the number of living children of mothers. The major hypothesis was that married women with better health practices would have lower number of living children. The case study was used to study women, 15 to 49 years old, still living with her husbands, whose youngest children were not more than 7 years old, Data collection was done by interviewing. The sample consisted of 450 mothers who lived in Amphoe Bang Pa-in, Changwat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. Multi-Stage Sampling was used to select, and every mother with the above qualifications in the selected households was interview. The statistical tabulations were made by using the computer package program, SPSS, (statistical Package for Social Sciences) installed at the Data Processing Center of Thailand, National Statistical Office. It was found the there was a relationship between the health practices of mothers when they were ill and the number of living children they had. Mothers who sought modern primary health care when they were ill were more likely to have fewer living children. In addition, there was a difference in the number of living children was also found between mothers who chose modern prenatal and postnatal practices and those who chose traditional ones. Those who selected modern practices were more likely to have fewer living children. Data on health practices during the postpartum rest period were analyzed to investigate the relationship between these and number of living children. It was found that postpartum mothers who used modern medications and ate foods that villagers believed to be taboo had fewer living children than those who used traditional medicines and observed the traditional taboos. There was no difference, however, between the number of living children of women who had a 6-week check-up at the health center and those who did not. Investigating the king of milk used in infant feeding, it was found that mothers who had 1 or 2 living children tended to use breast milk in combination with humanized powered milk while mothers with 3 to 13 living children tended to use breast milk in combination with sweetened condensed milk. Also, mothers with 1 to 2 living children weaned their babies earlier than mothers who had more than 5 living children. It was found that the practice of family planning was related to the number of living children in the family. Mother who had more living children were using family planning practices more than those who had fewer living children, probably because their larger number of children made them more interested in preventing addition births. The conclusion of this study was that health practices of eligible women in Amphoe Bang pa-in has relationship with the number of her living children.