Obstetric long commentary: A survey of the knowledge and attitude related to the antenantal procedures amongst expectant mothers at the kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

This was a prospective descriptive study, which surveyed the knowledge and attitude related to the antenatal procedures amongst expectant mothers at the Kenyatta National Hospital between April and June 1991. Mothers who had completed their antenatal care and who delivered at the maternity unit of the hospital during the study period were sampled and a total of 490 mothers selected for the study. The mothers interviewed constituted 24.0% of the total deliveries recorded at the Kenyatta National Hospital, during the study period. The overall knowledge of the antenatal procedures amongst these mothers was found to be low. Only 18.4% of them had adequate -- knowledge while 55.2% had poor knowledge of the procedures. The major factors affecting this knowledge of the antenatal procedures included; the age, the occupation and the educational level of the mothers. The older the mother was, the higher the education level attained, and if she was employed, the more the knowledge she had of the antenatal procedures. This knowledge of the antenatal procedures, affected the time these mothers started their antenatal care. Mothers with high knowledge started their antenatal care earlier, as evidence by the fact that 31.9% of mothers with high knowledge of the antenatal procedure had started their care by mid second trimester of pregnancy compared to 8.3% of those with low knowledge whq had started by that time. The attitude of these mothers towards the antenatal procedures proved hard to measure. However, taking the values they attached to the antenatal clinic as an indicator of a positive attitude, 28.3% of the mothers attached no value to the antenatal clinic. 23.0% of them thought that the antenatal clinic was important so that an