KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF PREGNANT WOMEN TOWARDS FOCUSED ANTE NATAL CARE SERVICES IN UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR TEACHING HOSPITAL, CALABAR, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA (Published)
The study investigated pregnant women’s knowledge and attitude towards focused antenatal care in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The literature was conceptually, empirically and theoretically reviewed based on the main variables under study. The study adopted a descriptive design and the sample size was 174 pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic in UCTH from January – May, 2014. The instrument for data collection was a three section questionnaire. The instrument had a correlation coefficient of 0.79. Questionnaire was administered through face to face interaction and on the spot collection of completed questionnaire. The data collected from questionnaires were analyzed using frequencies and percentages, while chi-square test analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had good knowledge and favourable attitude towards focused antenatal care. In testing the hypothesis using chi-square analysis, hypothesis one showed a statistical association between knowledge and attitude towards focused antenatal care, when the chi-square calculated of 20.6 was greater than the critical chi-square of 5.991 at 0.05 level of significance with 2 degrees of freedom. Although knowledge towards focused antenatal care high and attitude was favourable, some weakness still exist which posed as hindrance to utilization. Based on the above, intensive awareness creation on focused antenatal care for pregnant women recommended. Retraining of health workers and monitoring and supervision of health workers to improve on the hindrance identified as barriers to utilization was also recommended.
Keywords: Ante Natal Care Services, Calabar, Cross River State, Knowledge And Attitude, Nigeria, Pregnant Women, Teaching Hospital, University Of Calabar