Social Networks and Reproductive Healthcare-Seeking Behaviour of Garo and Mandai Women in Bangladesh

Abstract

The reproductive healthcare system is meagre in the ethnic communities of Bangladesh. Notwithstanding the availability of studies on the healthcare-seeking behaviour of ethnic groups in Bangladesh, studies explicitly focused on the social networks of ethnic women, and their likely influences on reproductive health in this context are rare. We analyse how social networks impact ethnic women’s reproductive healthcare-seeking behaviour in Bangladesh. A total of 205 married ethnic—Garo and Mandai—women were selected purposively from Madhupur Upazila in the Tangail district. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics show that the average score of reproductive healthcare-seeking behaviour of Garo and Mandai women is low (40 out of 70), and the average network size of that women is slightly small (2.58). Results from hierarchical multiple regression models show that, next to years of schooling, reproductive health-related training and membership status, network size is positively related, while reproductive health constraints are negatively related, and ethnicity is not statistically associated with reproductive healthcare-seeking behaviour of Garo and Mandai women. This study reveals that social networks of ethnic women may improve their reproductive healthcare-seeking behaviour in Bangladesh. Hence, the policy recommendation is that social network agents are more equipped with reproductive health-related knowledge and information.