IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v114y2014icp169-177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of women's empowerment on maternal health care utilization: Evidence from Albania

Author

Listed:
  • Sado, Lantona
  • Spaho, Alma
  • Hotchkiss, David R.

Abstract

Women in Albania receive antenatal care and postnatal care at lower levels than in other countries in Europe. Moreover, there are large socio-economic and regional disparities in maternal health care use. Previous research in low- and middle-income countries has found that women's status within the household can be a powerful force for improving the health, longevity, and mental and physical capacity of mothers and the well-being of children, but there is very little research on this issue in the Balkans. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of women's empowerment within the household on antenatal and postnatal care utilization in Albania. The research questions are explored through the use of bivariate and multivariate analyses based on nationally representative data from the 2008–09 Albania Demographic and Health Survey. The linkages between women's empowerment and maternal health care utilization are analyzed using two types of indicators of women's empowerment: decision making power and attitudes toward domestic violence. The outcome variables are indicators of the utilization of antenatal care and postnatal care. The findings suggest that use of maternal health care services is influenced by women's roles in decision-making and the attitudes of women towards domestic violence, after controlling for a number of socio-economic and demographic factors which are organized at individual, household, and community level. The study results suggest that policy actions that increase women's empowerment at home could be effective in helping assure good maternal health.

Suggested Citation

  • Sado, Lantona & Spaho, Alma & Hotchkiss, David R., 2014. "The influence of women's empowerment on maternal health care utilization: Evidence from Albania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 169-177.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:114:y:2014:i:c:p:169-177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614003414
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.047?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saifuddin Ahmed & Andreea A Creanga & Duff G Gillespie & Amy O Tsui, 2010. "Economic Status, Education and Empowerment: Implications for Maternal Health Service Utilization in Developing Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(6), pages 1-6, June.
    2. Shireen J. Jejeebhoy & Zeba A. Sathar, 2001. "Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan: The Influence of Religion and Region," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 687-712, December.
    3. Shelah Bloom & David Wypij & Monica Gupta, 2001. "Dimensions of women’s autonomy and the influence on maternal health care utilization in a north indian city," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 67-78, February.
    4. Karen Mason & Herbert Smith, 2000. "Husbands’ versus wives’ fertility goals and use of contraception: The influence of gender context in five Asian countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(3), pages 299-311, August.
    5. Hashemi, Syed M. & Schuler, Sidney Ruth & Riley, Ann P., 1996. "Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 635-653, April.
    6. Mathias Lerch, 2013. "Patriarchy and fertility in Albania," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(6), pages 133-166.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cuadrado, Cristóbal & Crispi, Francisca & Libuy, Matías & Marchildon, Gregory & Cid, Camilo, 2019. "National Health Insurance: A conceptual framework from conflicting typologies," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(7), pages 621-629.
    2. Bui, Quang N. & Hoang, Trung X. & Le, Nga T.V., 2018. "The effect of domestic violence against women on child welfare in Vietnam," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 709-719.
    3. Delia Voronca & Rebekah J. Walker & Leonard E. Egede, 2018. "Relationship between empowerment and wealth: trends and predictors in Kenya between 2003 and 2008–2009," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(5), pages 641-649, June.
    4. Atta Muhammad Asif & Muhammad Akbar, 2023. "A non-linear decomposition analysis of children’s dietary diversity scores: explaining rural-urban inequality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3273-3284, August.
    5. Muhammad Nadeem & Muhammad Irfan Malik & Mumtaz Anwar & Sobia Khurram, 2021. "Women Decision Making Autonomy as a Facilitating Factor for Contraceptive Use for Family Planning in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 71-89, July.
    6. Musonera, Abdou & Heshmati, Almas, 2016. "Measuring Women's Empowerment in Rwanda," IZA Discussion Papers 10131, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Miteniece, Elina & Pavlova, Milena & Rechel, Bernd & Groot, Wim, 2017. "Barriers to accessing adequate maternal care in Central and Eastern European countries: A systematic literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-8.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    2. Pratley, Pierre, 2016. "Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: A systematic review of evidence from the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 119-131.
    3. Mumtaz, Zubia & Salway, Sarah, 2009. "Understanding gendered influences on women's reproductive health in Pakistan: Moving beyond the autonomy paradigm," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1349-1356, April.
    4. Yasmin, Nazia & Grundmann, Philipp, 2020. "Home-cooked energy transitions: Women empowerment and biogas-based cooking technology in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    5. Abhishek Kumar & Valeria Bordone & Raya Muttarak, 2016. "Like Mother(-in-Law) Like Daughter? Influence of the Older Generation’s Fertility Behaviours on Women’s Desired Family Size in Bihar, India," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 629-660, December.
    6. Lee-Rife, Susan M., 2010. "Women's empowerment and reproductive experiences over the lifecourse," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 634-642, August.
    7. Astrid Sneyers & Anneleen Vandeplas, 2013. "Girl Power in Agricultural Production: How Much Does it Yield? A Case-Study on the Dairy Sector in India," Working Papers id:5562, eSocialSciences.
    8. Laura K. Merrell & Sarah R. Blackstone, 2020. "Women’s Empowerment as a Mitigating Factor for Improved Antenatal Care Quality despite Impact of 2014 Ebola Outbreak in Guinea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Thapa, Deependra Kaji & Niehof, Anke, 2013. "Women's autonomy and husbands' involvement in maternal health care in Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Fatema, Kaniz, 2020. "Mass Media Exposure and Maternal Healthcare Utilization in South Asia," SocArXiv 5dhyr, Center for Open Science.
    11. Sharmistha Self & Richard Grabowski, 2018. "Factors influencing maternal health care in Nepal: the role of socioeconomic interaction," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 25(2), pages 53-75, December.
    12. Sonalde Desai & Lijuan Wu, 2010. "Structured Inequalities—Factors Associated with Spatial Disparities in Maternity Care in India," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 4(3), pages 293-319, August.
    13. Etienne Breton, 2019. "Modernization and Household Composition in India, 1983–2009," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(4), pages 739-766, December.
    14. Maryam Vizheh & Frances Rapport & Jeffrey Braithwaite & Yvonne Zurynski, 2023. "The Impact of Women’s Agency on Accessing and Using Maternal Healthcare Services: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Vikram, Kriti & Vanneman, Reeve & Desai, Sonalde, 2012. "Linkages between maternal education and childhood immunization in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 331-339.
    16. repec:lic:licosd:34113 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Arusha Cooray & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Maternal Mortality, Religion and the Enrolment of Girls and Boys: Is there a Link?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 19714, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    18. Imai, Katsushi S. & Annim, Samuel Kobina & Kulkarni, Veena S. & Gaiha, Raghav, 2014. "Women’s Empowerment and Prevalence of Stunted and Underweight Children in Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 88-105.
    19. Mahmud, Simeen & Shah, Nirali M. & Becker, Stan, 2012. "Measurement of Women’s Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 610-619.
    20. Varghese, Rekha & Roy, Manan, 2019. "Coresidence with mother-in-law and maternal anemia in rural India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 37-46.
    21. Rai, Ashok & Ravi, Shamika, 2011. "Do Spouses Make Claims? Empowerment and Microfinance in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 913-921, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:114:y:2014:i:c:p:169-177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.