Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes and practices of pregnant women towards antenatal care in Qualioubia governorate

ABSTRACT

295 pregnant women were selected by systematic random sample from the Meet-Halfa Village, Qalyoubia Governorate. A specially designed questionnaire was used to collect data. After data collection statistical analysis was done. The results indicated a poor level of maternal knowledge regarding the importance of antenatal care and good knowledge levels regarding both the providing sites of antenatal care and the alarming signs during pregnancy. The majority of the studied women had good levels of knowledge about the regularity of antenatal care visits. As regard attitudes, 75.9%, 15.3% and 8.8% of the studied women had favorable, indifferent and unfavorable positive attitudes, respectively, towards certain instructions that should be followed during pregnancy. Concerning maternal practices, it was found that 58% of the studied sample were not attending antenatal care clinics during pregnancy, and only 6.7% of the attendants started antenatal care visits in the first trimester. Also, 61.4% of mothers used to increase the quantities and/or the qualities of their meals during pregnancy