Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices of expectant mothers in relation to antenatal care in Assiut governorate.

This study aims to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of expectant mothers in relation to ante-natal care in Assiut and to find out factors affecting their knowledge. Attitudes and practices. The present study was carried out in the ante-natal clinic at Assiut General Hospital and three Maternal and Child Health Centers in Assiut. Fifty women were selected from each of the previously mentioned settings. A specially designed interview sheet was used to collect the necessary data. It was consisted of four parts. The first part included questions related to individual features of women, the second part included questions related to their family features, the third part concerned with previous obstetrical history of women and their acceptance of pregnancy and the fourth part included questions related to knowledge, attitudes and practices of expectant mother in relation to ante-natal care. The findings of the present study revealed that one quarter of the study sample (25.5%) lacked basic and essential knowledge about ante-natal care, most of older women (88.2%) were more likely to have poor knowledge in relation to ante-natal care, the higher educated women (66.7%) were more likely to have good knowledge about ante-natal care compared to 33.5% of lower educated women. It was also observed that the majority of working women (90%) were more likely to have good ante-natal care knowledge compared to housewives (10%). Most of the primigravida women (88.2%) were more likely to have poor knowledge in relation to ante-natal care compared to 11.8% of women whose gravidity was less than 5.