Assessment of Need of Antenatal Education by Assessing the Existing Knowledge of Pregnant Women

OBJECTIVE: To assess the antenatal knowledge and preferred information seeking behavior of pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics of Allied Hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi.METHODOLOY: This was a multi-centered based cross-sectional design study. This study was conducted in the antenatal care clinics of three allied hospitals of Rawalpindi medical University, Rawalpindi. A total of 400 pregnant women in third trimester of pregnancy, attending antenatal care clinics were included in the study through consecutive sampling. Antenatal knowledge was assessed by a valid (scale-content validity index=1.00) and reliable (Cronbach’s alpha=0.90) questionnaire developed for this purpose. SPSS 22 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Out of 400 pregnant women, majority 148 (37%) were in the age group of 23-27 years. Mean age was 26.5±4.8 years. Mean antenatal knowledge score was 28±6.2. Two hundred and sixty-eight (67%) women had poor (˂70% score), ninety-six (24%) had adequate (70%-80% score) and thirty-six (9%) had good (˃80% score) level of antenatal knowledge. Three hundred and sixty (90%) women had poor nutritional and gestational weight gain knowledge. Antenatal knowledge scores were significantly associated with education, number of antenatal care visits, locality and monthly household income. One to one education was preferred format by most (53%) of women. Doctors were the preferred source of information by 80% of the participants.CONCLUSION: The findings of the study indicate that most of the pregnant women lack the adequate antenatal knowledge while one to one education given by doctors was the preferred mode of health education by the majority of the participants. KEYWORDS: Pregnant women, Antenatal education, Antenatal knowledge