International Journal of Nursing Education and Research

Shivani Rai ¹

Affiliations
1 Silver Oaks College of Nursing, Village Abhipur, PO Khizrabada, Ditrict S.A.S Nagar (Punjab) - 140109, IN

Abstract

Antenatal care is a type of preventive healthcare with the goal of providing regular check-ups that allow doctors or midwives to treat and prevent potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy while promoting healthy lifestyles that benefit both mother and child. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in 2015 around 830 women died every day from problems in pregnancy and childbirth. The objective of this descriptive study was to assess the knowledge and belief regarding antenatal care among antenatal mothers in selected hospitals of District S.A.S Nagar, Punjab. A descriptive research design was used to assess knowledge and belief regarding antenatal care among 200 antenatal mothers admitted or attending antenatal OPD in selected hospitals of District S.A.S Nagar, Punjab. The findings revealed that the mothers had 18.5 of overall total mean knowledge and a median of 19 with standard deviation of 5.2. Knowledge were found to be adequate in 25%(50), moderately adequate in 50.5% (101) and inadequate in 24.5% (49). The overall total mean score for belief was 14.5 and median 15.5 with a standard deviation of 7.4. Only 9% (18) mothers had positive belief, 63.5% (127) had negative belief and 27.5% (55) had neutral belief regarding antenatal care. Statistically positive correlation was found between (r=0.80) knowledge and belief. There was significant association between knowledge of the antenatal mothers and their occupation, type of family, dietary pattern, gravida, source of information. There was significant association between belief of the antenatal mothers and their education, type of family, dietary pattern, month of pregnancy, gravida, source of information. The study concluded that there is a lack of adequate knowledge regarding antenatal care among antenatal mothers and some of the misconceptions still prevails related to the antenatal care.

Keywords

Knowledge, Belief, Antenatal Care, Antenatal Mothers.

Full Text