Why not? Understanding the spatial clustering of private facility-based delivery and financial reasons for homebirths in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, the provision of public and private healthcare vary geographically, contributing to variations in one's healthcare surroundings across space. Facility-based delivery (FBD) is also spatially heterogeneous. Levels of FBD and private FBD are significantly lower for women in certain south-eastern and northern regions. The potential influence of childbirth services frequented by the community on individual's barriers to healthcare utilization is under-studied, possibly due to the lack of suitable data. Using individual-level data, we present a novel analytical approach to examine the relationship between women's reasons for homebirth and community-level, health-seeking surroundings. We aim to assess the extent to which cost or finance acts as a barrier for FBD across geographic areas with varying levels of private FBD in Nigeria. METHOD: The most recent live births of 20,467 women were georeferenced to 889 locations in the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Using these locations as the analytical unit, spatial clusters of high/low private FBD were detected with Kulldorff statistics in the SatScan software package. We then obtained the predicted percentages of women who self-reported financial reasons for homebirth from an adjusted generalized linear model for these clusters. RESULTS: Overall private FBD was 13.6% (95%CI = 11.9,15.5). We found ten clusters of low private FBD (average level: 0.8, 95%CI = 0.8,0.8) and seven clusters of high private FBD (average level: 37.9, 95%CI = 37.6,38.2). Clusters of low private FBD were primarily located in the north, and the Bayelsa and Cross River States. Financial barrier was associated with high private FBD at the cluster level - 10% increase in private FBD was associated with + 1.94% (95%CI = 1.69,2.18) in nonusers citing cost as a reason for homebirth. CONCLUSIONS: In communities where private FBD is common, women who stay home for childbirth might have mild increased difficulties in gaining effective access to public care, or face an overriding preference to use private services, among other potential factors. The analytical approach presented in this study enables further research of the differentials in individuals' reasons for service non-uptake across varying contexts of healthcare surroundings. This will help better devise context-specific strategies to improve health service utilization in resource-scarce settings.

Establishment of lactaton rooms in public and private companies: potentialities and difficulties. / Implantação de salas de apoio à amamentação em empresas públicas e privadas: potencialidades e dificuldades.

OBJECTIVE: To know how managers of public and private companies view lactation support rooms and their implantation. METHOD: This is study is based on qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research. Twenty managers from Greater Florianópolis participated in the research, in 2015. Data were collected by means of semi-structured/projective interviews, and subjected to content analysis associated with Atlas.ti software. RESULTS: Data analysis led to the following two categories: difficulties and facilities of establishing a lactation room, with a predominance of financial difficulties and the lack of physical space. Dialectically, the subjects also recognised the low cost involved, which facilitates establishment. CONCLUSION: Financial, cultural, and political aspects make it difficult to set up lactation rooms, but the importance of this measure was acknowledged. Although the success of breastfeeding partly depends on these support rooms, it also requires multiple actions, especially the effective participation of nurses and other health workers.

Pharmacy students in private institutions of higher education: motivating factors when studying pharmacy and influences on university choice.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors influencing the decisions of Malaysian first-year pharmacy undergraduate students in private higher education when choosing to pursue a degree in pharmacy as well as their choice of private university. METHODS: This cross-sectional study employed a validated, self-administered questionnaire which was administered to 543 first-year pharmacy students from nine different private universities. Factor analysis was utilised to extract key factors from the responses. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. KEY FINDINGS: Eight factors motivating students' decision to study pharmacy emerged from the responses, accounting for 63.8% of the variance observed. Students were primarily motivated by intrinsic interests, with work conditions and profession attributes also exerting significant influence. In terms of choice of private university, nine factors were identified, accounting for 73.8% of the variance observed. The image of the school and university were most influential factors in this context, followed by university safety, programme attributes and financial factors. CONCLUSIONS: First-year pharmacy students in the private higher education sector are motivated by intrinsic interest when choosing to study pharmacy over other courses, while their choice of private university is influenced primarily by the image of the school and university.

Implantação de salas de apoio à amamentação em empresas públicas e privadas: potencialidades e dificuldades / Despliegue de habitaciones lactancia de apoyo en empresas públicas y privadas: capacidades y dificultades / Establishment of lactaton rooms in public and private companies: potentialities and difficulties

RESUMO Objetivo Conhecer a visão de gestores de empresas públicas e privadas acerca das salas de apoio à amamentação, com vistas à sua implantação. Método Pesquisa qualitativa, exploratória descritiva, realizada em 2015, da qual participaram 20 gestores da Grande Florianópolis. Para a coleta de dados, foram utilizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas/projetivas e, para a análise, a Análise de Conteúdo, associada aos recursos do software Atlas.ti. Resultados Emergiram duas categorias, a saber, dificuldades e facilidades na implantação de sala de apoio à amamentação, com predomínio de aspectos dificultadores, especialmente financeiros, envolvidos na disponibilização de espaço físico. Dialeticamente, também houve reconhecimento do baixo custo envolvido, o que facilitaria sua implantação. Conclusões Aspectos financeiros, culturais e políticos dificultam a implantação de salas de apoio à amamentação, mas há o reconhecimento da importância da medida. Para o sucesso da amamentação, a implantação de salas de apoio é importante, porém, não suficiente, sendo necessárias múltiplas ações e, principalmente, uma atuação mais efetiva da enfermagem e dos demais profissionais de saúde.

RESUMEN Objetivo Conocer la visión de los gestores de la empresa pública y privada sobre las habitaciones de apoyo a la lactancia, con vistas a su puesta en práctica. Método La investigación fue cualitativa, exploratoria y descriptiva. Participaron 20 gerentes en Florianópolis en 2015. Para la recolección de datos se utilizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas/proyectiva y para análisis, Análisis de Contenido asociado a los recursos del software Atlas.ti. Resultados Surgieron dos categorías, las dificultades y las facilidades en la implantación de sala de apoyo a la lactancia, donde predominan los aspectos que obstaculizan, especialmente los financieros, involucrados en el espacio físico. Dialécticamente, también hubo reconocimiento del bajo costo involucrado, lo que facilitaría su aplicación. Conclusión Los aspectos financieros, culturales y políticos dificultan la implantación de salas de lactancia materna,es importsnte implantar salas de apoyo, sin embargo, no es suficiente, requiere múltiples acciones y, sobre todo, un funcionamiento más eficaz de la enfermería y otros profesionales de la salud.

ABSTRACT Objective To know how managers of public and private companies view lactation support rooms and their implantation. Method This is study is based on qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research. Twenty managers from Greater Florianópolis participated in the research, in 2015. Data were collected by means of semi-structured/projective interviews, and subjected to content analysis associated with Atlas.ti software. Results Data analysis led to the following two categories: difficulties and facilities of establishing a lactation room, with a predominance of financial difficulties and the lack of physical space. Dialectically, the subjects also recognised the low cost involved, which facilitates establishment. Conclusion Financial, cultural, and political aspects make it difficult to set up lactation rooms, but the importance of this measure was acknowledged. Although the success of breastfeeding partly depends on these support rooms, it also requires multiple actions, especially the effective participation of nurses and other health workers.