Study on maternal consciousness among Nepalese mothers in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Present study was carried out to study the status of maternal consciousness among Nepalese women living in Kathmandu. Of the total 360 mothers of different ethnic groups included in this study, only 55.5% mothers were found to have a positive feeling regarding their pregnancy (pregnancy is a wonderful event for women) (strongly positive 16.6%; positive 39.2%). Over one-forth of the mothers (27.7%) had negative feelings (strongly negative 8.8%; negative = 19.0%) and 14.4% had neither positive nor negative feeling. Among the different ethnic groups, Launa (Tamang/Sherpa) ethnic had highest rate (nearly two-third) of positive feeling towards pregnancy. However, the positive feeling towards born baby was very high (77.9%). The level of feeling of love to their baby was different in different ethnic groups. Compared with other population groups, Dalits had higher level of positive feelings about giving a child birth, childcare and self-sacrifice for the shake of children.