FAMILY SIZE, BELIEF SYSTEMS, AND USE OF INSECTICIDE-TREATED NETS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

The study Assess utilization of insecticide treated net among pregnant women in Southern Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. For the purpose of this study to be achieved, two research questions were posed and converted into two null hypotheses, which were tested at 0.05 level of significance. There was a detailed review of related literature on the variables of the study. Survey research design was employed in the study. Accidental sampling technique was adopted in selecting the health facilities used for the study while the systematic random sampling technique was adopted in selecting the seven hundred and forty-one respondents used for the study. A structured questionnaire was the instrument utilized for data collection. The instrument was subjected to validity by relevant experts. Cronbach alpha method was employed to establish the reliability of the research instrument. To test the various hypotheses that were formulated for the study, Pearson product moment correlation statistics were utilized for analysis of data. The result obtained from data analysis and hypotheses testing in the study revealed that; there was no significant relationship between belief and utilization of insecticide treated nets among pregnant women. The implication of this finding is that pregnant women in the study area believe in the efficacy of insecticide treated nets, which is influencing the utilization positively. Family size significantly influences utilization of insecticide treated nets among pregnant women. The implication of this finding is that pregnant women with large families will continue to experience low utilization of insecticide treated nets except their economic status improve while pregnant women from small family sizes utilize insecticide treated nets... It was further recommended that relevant government agencies should ensure that pregnant women from low income groups be assisted to own insecticide treated net(s) in order to enable them utilize such nets as a means of preventing malaria.