Factors Influencing the Utilization of Eight Antenatal Care Model among Pregnant Mothers Receiving Antenatal Care at Kampala International University-Teaching Hospital

Eight Antenatal Care (ANC8+) contact refers to antenatal care model where a mother is recommended to have at least eight contacts to antenatal care provider as follows: one contact in the first trimester, two contacts in the second trimester and five contacts in the third trimester. A cross-sectional quantitative study conducted among 44 pregnant mothers at Kampala International University-Teaching Hospital and were chosen by convenient sampling method. Data were entered and cleaned using SPSS version 22.0 and analysed and presented in figures, chart and table as frequency and percentages. Out of the 44 participants, 21(47.7%) aged 25 to 34 years, 24(54.5%) had secondary education, 23(52.3%), had 1-3 children, 28(63.6%) were rural dwellers, 32(72.7%) married, 21(48.6%) had less than 50,000=, 24(54.5%) said ANC be attended only 4 times during pregnancy, 38(86.4%) had no ANC insurance coverage, 36(81.8%) had a planned pregnancy, 23(52.3%) were not sure about WHO ANC 8+ contacts, 25(56.8%) started ANC after 12 weeks of gestation, 37(84.1%) had husband’s support, 28(63.6%) complained of high cost ANC 30(68.2%) resided within 2 km from health facility, 29(65.9%) said the staffs are always available to work on them, 22(50.0%) mentioned ANC caregiver’s attitude was fair. Conclusively, above average of total mothers 63.6% were rural dwellers with 48.6% had an average monthly income of less than fifty thousand shillings only of which 86.4% had no ANC insurance coverage hence 63.6% complaining of high-cost ANC and this hinder their ANC utilization. Poor utilization was also due to most 54.5% mothers were not aware about the WHO ANC 8+ contacts hence majority reporting only 4 times ANC be attended during pregnancy and late first ANC initiation 56.8% hence limiting their 8+ ANC. Keywords: Influential Factors; Antenatal Care; Pregnant Mother; Antenatal Care.