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Couples’ reports of household decision-making and the utilization of maternal health services in Bangladesh

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  • Story, William T.
  • Burgard, Sarah A.

Abstract

This study examines the association between maternal health service utilization and household decision-making in Bangladesh. Most studies of the predictors of reproductive health service utilization focus on women’s reports; however, men are often involved in these decisions as well. Recently, studies have started to explore the association between health outcomes and reports of household decision-making from both husbands and wives as matched pairs. Many studies of household decision-making emphasize the importance of the wife alone making decisions; however, some have argued that joint decision-making between husbands and wives may yield better reproductive health outcomes than women making decisions without input or agreement from their partners. Husbands’ involvement in decision-making is particularly important in Bangladesh because men often dominate household decisions related to large, health-related purchases. We use matched husband and wife reports about who makes common household decisions to predict use of antenatal and skilled delivery care, using data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Results from regression analyses suggest that it is important to consider whether husbands and wives give concordant responses about who makes household decisions since discordant reports about who makes these decisions are negatively associated with reproductive health care use. In addition, compared to joint decision-making, husband-only decision-making is negatively associated with antenatal care use and skilled delivery care. Finally, associations between household decision-making arrangements and health service utilization vary depending on whose report is used and the type of health service utilized.

Suggested Citation

  • Story, William T. & Burgard, Sarah A., 2012. "Couples’ reports of household decision-making and the utilization of maternal health services in Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2403-2411.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:12:p:2403-2411
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. Md Abdullah Al Jubayer Biswas & Mohammad Abdullah Kafi & Muhammad Manwar Morshed Hemel & Mondar Maruf Moin Ahmed & Sharful Islam Khan, 2022. "Women empowerment and sexually transmitted infections: Evidence from Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah & Sabah, Md Nasim-Us Sabah & Uddin, Jalal & Enemark, Ulrika, 2015. "Progress in utilization of antenatal and delivery care services in Bangladesh: Where does the equity gap lie?," MPRA Paper 63496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Panu Poutvaara & Maximilian Schwefer, 2018. "Husbands’ and wives’ diverging perceptions on who decides," ifo Working Paper Series 279, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    7. Fernandez, Antonia & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2017. "Shared agency: The dominant spouse’s impact on education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 182-197.
    8. Bussolo,Maurizio & Sarma,Nayantara & Williams,Anaise Marie, 2021. "It Takes Two (To Make Things Right) : Women's Empowerment and Couple Concordance in South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9545, The World Bank.
    9. Jahar Bhowmik & Raaj Kishore Biswas & Nurjahan Ananna, 2020. "Women’s education and coverage of skilled birth attendance: An assessment of Sustainable Development Goal 3.1 in the South and Southeast Asian Region," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    10. 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.
    11. Amit Kumar Biswas & Taufiq-E-Ahmed Shovo & Moutithi Aich & Sykat Mondal, 2017. "Women’s Autonomy and Control to Exercise Reproductive Rights: A Sociological Study from Rural Bangladesh," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, June.
    12. Ambler, Kate & Doss, Cheryl & Kieran, Caitlin & Passarelli, Simone, 2022. "Spousal concordance in joint and separate households: Survey evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Garcia, Italo Lopez & Fernald, Lia C.H. & Aboud, Frances E. & Otieno, Ronald & Alu, Edith & Luoto, Jill E., 2022. "Father involvement and early child development in a low-resource setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    14. Abu Ansar Md Rizwan & Salina Canadi & Sujit Kumar Banik & Zubaida Iftekhar & Md. Hafizul Islam & Md. Ebrahim Khalil & Gayettri Rani & Abeer Mohammad Hossain, 2023. "Knowledge of the behavioral risk factors of the family members of the patients with non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh," Journal of Scientific Reports, IJSAB International, vol. 5(1), pages 61-68.
    15. 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.
    16. Selamah Yusof, 2015. "Household Decision-Making in Malaysia: The Ethnic Dimension," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 283-293, October.
    17. Kathryn M. Yount & Kristin E. VanderEnde & Sylvie Dodell & Yuk Fai Cheong, 2016. "Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt: A National Validation Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1171-1192, September.
    18. Allison Ruark & Rachel Chase & John Hembling & Valerie Rhoe Davis & Paul Clayton Perrin & Dorothy Brewster-Lee, 2017. "Measuring couple relationship quality in a rural African population: Validation of a Couple Functionality Assessment Tool in Malawi," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, November.

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