ABSTRACT
@#Pre-pregnancy Clinic (PPC) services is one the plausible efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. However, various issues still need to be addressed for improvement of the services. Considering this view, an attempt was made to explore the barriers, strength and weakness of current practice of pre-pregnancy clinic services in Sarawak, since the programme has been implemented in this state from the year 2011. This cross-sectional study was conducted at nine selected health care facilities throughout Sarawak. A multistage sampling procedure was adapted to select the health care facilities. An unstructured open-ended questionnaire was administered to get the in-depth perceived views and current practice of pre-pregnancy clinic services. A total of 322 health care providers from nine selected health care facilities gave their feedback. In the present paper, a qualitative analysis was done for the open-ended questions to get in-depth views of barriers, strength and weakness of pre-pregnancy clinic services. The results of the study were narrated in textual form and a thematic analysis was done manually. The identified themes for perceived barriers to the provision of pre-pregnancy care were perception, attitude and acceptance of PPC services, socio-economic issues, services and client factors. The perceived weaknesses of the services are listed under two main themes: working environment and service factors, while, the strength of services produced three thematic areas which are preparation for pregnancy, prevention of mortality and morbidity and comprehensive services. Though pre-pregnancy services are beneficial for society wellbeing, various issues still need to be considered for the improvement of the quality of services. Lack of awareness, no ministerial guidelines or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and knowledge pertaining to the services were few of the main areas which need to be pondered upon. Promotional activities and campaigns should be geared up ensuring availability the services to the general population.
Subject(s)
Perception , MalaysiaABSTRACT
In Malaysia although mortality rate among women of reproductive ages has reduced over the years, the reduction has been stagnant for the past ten years. In order to achieve the 5th Millennium Development Goal, several measures need to be taken including a proper implementation of pre-pregnancy services in this country. This study explores the awareness, intention and usage of pre-pregnancy care (PPC) services and its determinant among women of reproductive ages in Kedah, Malaysia. This is a qualitative study, which consisted of a focus group discussion (FGD) among women in the ages of 18 to 45 years old from all ethnic groups who attended four government clinics in the state of Kedah. The mothers were chosen through purposive sampling from twelve districts that were selected through a multistage random sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was utilized during the FGD. The results from the FGD were recorded verbatim and thematic analysis was finalized once saturation of information from respondents was achieved. These are two themes was identified, namely personal reasons and reasons of service and there are several subthemes under two main themes. Under the Personal reason themes, the subthemes including awareness and intention to used the services, knowledge, perception, social support and history of medical illness. While under pre-pregnancy care services themes, the subthemes including the promotion of the services, the communication relationship with the health staff, the waiting time and also the accessibility of the service. As a conclusion, there is still part of society who was unaware of pre-pregnancy services and its importance in reducing maternal mortality rate as well as producing good pregnancy outcome. Information and knowledge on pre-pregnancy care services should be disseminated among community members through various means including roadshows and pre wedding workshops.
ABSTRACT
Background: The Ministry of Health is committed to achieve Millenium Development Goal (MDG) MDG 4 and 5 by 2015 and include pre-pregnancy care as a strategy. This study evaluates the risk factors detected during the pre-pregnancy screening at selected public primary care clinics in Selangor. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the proportion of women with risk factors receiving pre-pregnancy care in selected clinics in Selangor, their socio demographic features, the types of risk factors detected and their significance. Methods: A retrospective review using secondary data was carried out from the month of March until June 2013 in four public primary care clinics in Klang and Petaling districts of Selangor. Data were obtained through non-probability sampling, using the pre-pregnancy screening form utilised in 2012, which is a standard questionnaire to determine the presence of risk factors. Women with at least one defined risk factor were considered as being at risk of an adverse obstetric outcome. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16. Results: A total of 840 pre-pregnancy screening forms were collected. However only 614 (73.1%) were analysed and studied. The proportion of women with at least one risk factor was 68.8% (95% CI: 65.1, 72.5). The majority was Malays who had tertiary education and earned more than RM 1000. Most were in the reproductive age group of 18–35 years old (350, 82.9%). The mean age was 28.68 + 5.78 years. Most of the women were parous (259, 65.1%) and did not practice any form of contraception (308, 80.8%) despite having risks. The percentage of those not receiving any form of immunisation was small i.e. 9.8% but it was of importance and needed to be addressed prior to the conception. This study did not reveal any person with mental disorder or those who endured domestic abuse. Additionally, 3% (12) of them had unhealthy lifestyle habits, which include smoking, alcohol and substance abuse. Approximately one-third (212, 35.2%) of the women screened were overweight and obese, putting them at risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus, pregnancy induced hypertension or deep vein thrombosis. The mean body mass index (BMI) for those at risk was 25.36 + 5.94 compared to 21.06 ± 1.46 for those with no risk. This study also found a small percentage of women with raised blood pressure (3.9%), abnormal physical examination (1.5%) and anaemia (14.4%), which need to be investigated and treated prior to conception. Conclusion: More than half of the women who attended the pre-pregnancy screening were found to have at least one risk factor.