Relationship between perceived social support and postpartum care attendance in three Latin American countries: a cross-sectional analytic study

BACKGROUND: Postpartum Care is a strategy to improve survival of women and newborns, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Early post-partum care can promote healthy behaviors and the identification of risk factors associated with poorer pregnancy-related outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the association of perceived social support with attendance to post-partum care in women from three Latin-American and Caribbean countries: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Honduras. METHODS: Women aged 18+ who completed a pregnancy in the past 5 years were interviewed in local healthcare and community settings in each country. Perceived social support (PSS) was the primary explanatory variable and the primary outcome was self-reported attendance to post-partum care. Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals derived from logistic regression documented the association between variables. Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) were calculated, controlling for social and pregnancy-related confounders. Hosmer– Lemeshow’s Goodness-of-Fit statistic was computed to assess model fit. RESULTS: Our cohort of 1199 women across the three Latin-American and Caribbean countries showed relatively high attendance to post-partum care (82.6%, n = 990). However, 51.7% (n = 581) of women reported lower levels of total PSS. Women were more likely to attend postpartum care if they had mean and higher levels of PSS Family subscale (OR: 1.9, 95%CI: 1.4, 2.7), Friends subscale (OR 1.3, 95%CI: 0.9,1.8), Significant Other subscale (OR 1.8, 95%CI: 1.3, 2.4) and the Total PSS (OR 1.8, 95%CI: 1.3, 2.5). All associations were statistically significant at p < 0.05, with exception of the Friends subscale. Women with higher levels of total PSS were more likely to attend to post-partum care (AOR:1.40, 0.97, 1.92) even after controlling for confounders (education, country, and food insecurity). CONCLUSIONS: Women with higher perceived social support levels were more likely to attend to post-partum care. From all countries, women from Dominican Republic had lower perceived social support levels and this may influence attendance at post-partum care for this subgroup. Societal and geographic factors can act as determinants when evaluating perceived social support during pregnancy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41256-021-00196-1.