KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF PREGNANT MOTHERS TOWARDS THE NEW GOAL ORIENTED ANTENATAL CARE SERVICES AT SOROTI REGIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL, SOROTI CITY. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of pregnant mothers towards the new goal-oriented antenatal care services at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, Soroti City.

Methodology

The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive design and thus quantitative methods of data collection which involved a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 30 respondents who were sampled using a simple random sampling method. Data was collected from respondents after seeking consent from them analyzed and entered manually into the computer using Microsoft Excel Office programs 2016 which presented it in the form of tables, graphics, and pie-charts.

Results

Regarding knowledge, the majority 24(80%) of the respondents mentioned that they had never heard about goal-oriented antenatal care and 18(60%) of the respondents mentioned that one should attend goal-oriented antenatal care 1 to 2 times.

Concerning attitude, 21(70%) agreed that one can give birth to a healthy baby even when they have not attended the new goal-oriented antenatal care services, and 15(50%) were not sure that early goal-oriented antenatal care booking is good practice in pregnancy.

Regarding the practice, 27(90%) did practice goal-oriented antenatal care during pregnancy, 2(66.7%) mentioned that they get goal-oriented antenatal services from clinics and 17(56%) were not willing to attend all the 8 required goal-reoriented antenatal visits during your pregnancy.

Conclusion

The findings of this study indicate that there is a lack of knowledge and low utilization of goal-oriented antenatal care services among pregnant women in Soroti City.

Recommendation

The Ministry of Health should conduct health education and awareness campaigns to sensitize pregnant women about the importance of goal-oriented antenatal care services.