Assessment of pre-natal and post-natal attitude and practice of family members towards the birth of a female child among people residing in district East, Karachi.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the pre-natal and post-natal attitude and practice of family members towards the birth of a female child among people residing in an urban area.

METHODS

The cross-sectional attitude and practice study was conducted from May 2018 to November 2018 in Jamshed Town and Gulshan Town in district East of Karachi, and comprised randomly chosen participants. Data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire, and was analysed using SPSS 22.

RESULTS

Of the 400 subjects, 208(52%) were males, and 387(96.8%) were Muslims. The overall mean age was 46.13±14.75 years. Gender of the subject, relationship with the child, monthly household income and number of family members were significantly associated with consideration of abortion in case of a female foetus (p<0.05). Education of the mother and the number of sons were significantly associated with the reaction at the birth of the first female child (p<0.05), whereas age of the participant, education of the father, number of family members, number of sons and number of daughters were significantly associated with reaction at the birth of subsequent daughter (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Various demographic characteristics were significantly associated with pre-natal and post-natal attitude and practice of family members towards the birth of a female child.