Knowledge, attitudes and practices of pregnant women on preconception care in Blantyre Urban, Malawi
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Date
2017-02-01
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Abstract
Preconception care (PCC) is the care given to adolescents, women and couples prior to pregnancy. PCC has shown to improve the health of the mother and of the expected baby. Lack of PCC has resulted in continued occurrence of preterm birth, small for gestation babies, abortions, stillbirths and other pregnancy related complications despite prenatal care. In Malawi, studies on knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women were not traced. A descriptive quantitative study was conducted to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices of pregnant women on preconception care in Blantyre Urban. The main objective of the study was to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices of pregnant women on preconception care. The specific objectives were to; assess the knowledge of pregnant mothers on preconception care, describe the preconception practices that pregnant women were involved in, assess attitudes and beliefs of pregnant women on preconception care and describing factors that influence preconception care practices among pregnant women. The study setting was Limbe and Ndirande Health Centres. A total of 767 pregnant women; 384 from Limbe and 383 from Ndirande Health Centres were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Consecutive sampling was used to recruit respondents for the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse data. The study findings have shown lack of knowledge on PCC. Majority of women (70%; n=537) do not practice PCC while few (22.3%; n=171) have HIV testing to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. Most respondents (97.3%; n=746 ) demonstrated positive attitude towards PCC. Close to half of the respondents (49.2%; n=377) felt that health workers would influence them to attend PCC services seconded by respondents’ spouses (31.7%; n=243). Further, knowledge on PCC was mentioned as the major factor that would influence PCC attendance of most respondents (72.5%; n=556). There is need to educate women of childbearing age on the importance of PCC. PCC needs to be provided both at hospital and community level in order to reach majority of people.