Maternal health and well-being: Behavioural perspective of architectural garden features for sustainable antenatal and postnatal care in Tanzania

Abstract Maternal health is a significant aspect of global well-being, encompassing social, mental, and physical factors during both antenatal and postnatal periods. The maternal mortality rate in Tanzania has decreased in recent years because of government interventions aimed at enhancing healthcare facilities and the surrounding environment. This study investigates garden features with healing effects to assess users’ behavioural perspectives in determining the capacity of garden features for sustainable antenatal and postnatal care. The data were computed and analysed from the MMD of MZRH, Mbeya, Tanzania. The quantitative approach involving a survey questionnaire, multiple regression analysis, and SPSS 25-AMOS were adopted to analyse the data and generate the structural equation model which addresses sustainable maternal health (MH) factors in antenatal and postnatal care (AandPNC). Findings underscored the three most significant indicators found to be related to garden features (βGF = 0.227, p = 0.000), behavioural perspective of mothers (βBP = 0.067, p = 0.001), antenatal and postnatal care (βAandPNC = 0.246, p = 0.002), and social affairs factors (βSA = 0.092, p = 0.003) with an explanatory power of 55.7% (R2 = 0.557). This study advocates for researchers to adopt implementation strategies for effective interventions, while policy-makers should establish networks to enhance the application of findings in hospitals, thereby improving garden features for sustainable postnatal and antenatal care.