Global Health
Moderating role of socioeconomic status on the association between mass media exposure and the complete continuum of care utilization across South Asian countries Sohee Jung* Sohee Jung Rockli Kim
Background: In low- and middle-income countries, mass media is an effective way to encourage women to continue to utilize maternal healthcare services by disseminating maternal health information. However, the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationship between complete continuum of care (CoC) utilization in maternal healthcare services and mass media exposure in South Asia (SA) has not been sufficiently explored.
Method: Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (2010-2022) across 11 SA countries were analyzed, including 218,435 women aged 15-49 who had births in the past five years. Women were considered exposed to mass media if they utilized at least one media (newspaper, radio, and television) more than once a week. Complete CoC utilization was defined if women had their first antenatal care (ANC) visit in the first trimester, had at least four or more ANC visits during pregnancy, gave birth with skilled birth attendants, and received at least one postnatal care after birth. Multilevel linear probability models were applied to examine whether SES characteristics (e.g., maternal education level, household wealth, and place of residence) moderate the relationship between mothers’ media exposure and completion of CoC.
Results: Overall, 74.72% of women were identified as exposed to the mass media, and 43.80% utilized the complete CoC in maternal healthcare services. Mass media exposure was significantly associated with an increased probability of completing CoC (b=0.02; 95% CI=0.01,0.02) after adjusting for socioeconomic covariates. It was found that media exposure statistically increased the probability of completing CoC for women with higher education level compared to those with no education (b=0.03; 95% CI=0.01,0.05), those from higher quintiles compared to those from poorest quintile (b=0.05; 95% CI=0.03,0.08), and for those who were living in urban areas compared to those living in rural areas (b=0.02; 95% CI= 0.00,0.03).
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that SES moderates the effects of media exposure on increasing the probability of completing CoC in maternal health services. Therefore, tailored mass media campaigns should consider the lower SES groups to be able to receive relevant maternal healthcare information and complete CoC utilization.
