Abstract

Background: Globally, prolonged and obstructed labour contributed to 13% of maternal deaths which can be reduced by proper utilization of partograph during labour. Professional assisted delivery using a partograph during labour has paramount important in identifying any deviation during labor. Even though; partograph use is influenced by different factors it is not well identified in the study area. Thus the study aimed to assess partograph utilization and associated factors among obstetric caregivers in public health facilities of Hawassa City Administration, Sidama State, Ethiopia, 2021.

Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from June 10 to June 30, 2021 among 221 study subjects sampled by simple random sampling technique in selected health facilities. Data was collected using structured self-administered questionnaire. The data was coded, cleaned, entered using Epi data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 23 statistical software. A descriptive statistics for categorical and continuous variables was done and summarized as numbers, percentages, means and standard deviation. Bi-variable and multi variable logistic regressions were performed to identify factors associated with partograph utilization. The strength of statistical association was measured by Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals. In all cases P-value, less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.

Result: From the total study participants 62.5% (95%CI: 56%, 69%) of them utilized partograph to monitor women’s in labor. Respondents educational status (AOR=0.038, 95%CI: 0.003, 0.506), profession (AOR=9.9, 95%CI: 1.06, 92.65), service training (AOR 2.28, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.7) and attitude towards partograph utilization (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI: 1.76, 7.83) were factors significantly associated with partograph utilization.

Conclusion: In this study partograph utilization level is about 62.5%. Educational status, profession, service training and attitude were significant factors associated with partograph utilization. The concerned bodies should strengthen supportive supervision and provide training to obstetric care providers in order to promote partograph utilization.