Abstract

Aim: To assess the knowledge, find out the attitude and determine the practice of antenatal mother towards mode of delivery, contraception and lactation.

Settings and designs: Medical college based cross sectional study.

Methods and materials: The study was done for a period of 14 days among 25 pregnant women attending to Gynae OPD, data collection done through face-to-face interview using predesigned questionnaire containing demographic profile and knowledge, attitude and practice about mode of delivery, breastfeeding and lactation.

Statistical analysis: The data is presented as frequencies and percentages.

Results: Majority of the mothers (84%) were aware about the modes of delivery, 60% have positive attitude towards vaginal delivery. Out of total, 72% have knowledge about the modes of delivery, 60% have positive attitude and 40% have neutral attitude and 44% among them have used contraception earlier. Regarding lactation 88% are aware about the importance of lactation and 80% have positive attitude towards lactation. Among total 56% are aware about the importance of colostrum.

Conclusion: From our study it is evident that we need to counsel the antenatal mother regarding the importance of mode of delivery, importance of contraception and lactation in order to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice. The main aim of the counselling of the mother is to enable them by providing adequate knowledge, building up a positive attitude and to ensure that they practice the following measure.

Citation: Das A. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Antenatal Care and Counselling Amongst the Antenatal Patients. SciBase Clin Med Case Rep. 2025; 3(1): 1036.

Introduction

Antenatal care is the one which is given to the mother throughout her pregnancy in order to ensure the health and well-being of both the mother and baby. The components of antenatal care include regular checkups or visits which is recommended according to various regions. The main aim of these visits is to monitor maternal health and also to track fetal growth and development.

The main aim of the antenatal counselling is to equip the mother with adequate knowledge, build up a positive attitude and to ensure that the correct practices are being followed. The mother should be well aware of the various modes of delivery ISSN: 2995-5874 which can be normal vaginal delivery or assisted vaginal delivery or cesarean section. Expectant parents make decisions like place and modes of delivery [1]. However, in certain cases to reduce the morbidity and mortality caesarean section is done [2]. Antenatal counselling for contraception plays an important role as there is direct correlation between antenatal contraceptive counselling and postpartum usage of contraception. Now emphasis is given to immediate postpartum counselling rather than 6 weeks postpartum counselling [3]. The contraceptive prevalence is relatively low in most developing countries ranging from 6-14.6% [4]. Antenatal lactational counselling plays an important role as it is crucial right after delivery to provide the newborn with nutrition, immunity and also it prevents from long term chronic diseases. According to United Nations Children’s Fund, it is recommended to start breastfeeding within initial four hours and continue till 6 months [5,6]. It has also been seen that infants have a higher risk of developing pneumonia, diabetes mellitus, malocclusion and diarrhea who have not received exclusive breastfeeding [7,8].

Aim

To assess the knowledge, to find out the attitude and determine the practice of antenatal mother towards mode of delivery, contraception and lactation.

Methodology

A cross-sectional study was done for a period of 14 days among 25pregnant women attending outpatient department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, NEIGRIHMS. We were posted in department of Obstretics and Gynaecology as part of our elective posting for a span of 14 days. Data collection was done with the help of face- to-face interview using pretested predesigned structured questionnaire containing information about demographic profile of the study participants, and knowledge, attitude and practice about the mode of delivery, contraception and lactation. The question were asked in 2 parts – first consent was taken and the demographic details of the patients were asked and in the second part questions about knowledge, attitude and practice about modes of delivery, contraception and lactation were asked. The questions were asked in a language the patient could understand and the interview continued for 15-20 minutes each. After the questionnaires were done, we interacted with the patients and informed that about the importance of the modes of delivery, how important contraception is and what is the significance of lactation.

Statistical analysis

The data is presented as frequencies and percentage.

Results and observation

25 pregnant women visiting the Gynae OPD of NEIGRIHMS were studied. Out of them 64% (16) of them were at the age group of 25-35 yrs and the rest 36% (9) were less then 25 years. Majority of them that is 88% (22) of them preferred institutional delivery.

N=25

Among 25 pregnant mothers, 84% (21) of them have adequate knowledge about the various modes of delivery and the remaining 16% (4) of them were unaware of the various modes of delivery. Regarding the attitude 60% (15) of them have positive attitide towards normal vaginal delivery and the remaining 40% (10) have neutral attitude towards vaginal delivery. And 20% (5) of them have positive attitude towards caesarean section and the remaining 80% (20) of them have neutral attitude towards caesarean section. Out of the total women, 60% (15) preferred vaginal delivery and 40% (10) preferred caesarean section. And 68% (17) of the women are aware about the benefits of normal vaginal delivery.

Regarding contraception, 72% (18) of them have knowledge about the various modes of contraception. Among the women, 60% (15) of them have positive attitude towards contraception and 40% (10) of them have neutral attitude towards contraception. Regarding practice 44% (11) of them have earlier used contraceptives and the remaining 56% (14) of them have never used any mode of contraception. Majority of the women believe that contraceptive has side effects and accounts to 76% (19). Among the all-contraceptive methods most commonly used is condoms (36%), OCPs (27%), implants (18.11%) and natural method (18.11%). After a short counselling regarding contraception’s 84% (21) are willing to use in future.

Among the study population, almost 88% (22) are aware of the importance of breastfeeding, 88% (22) are aware of the benefits of breastfeeding for baby and 72% (18) are aware of benefits of breastfeeding for mother. 80% (20) of total have positive attitude towards breastfeeding. However, only 68% (17) of them could breastfed their babies exclusively for 6 months and others initiated complementary feeding before 6 months. The reason of initiating complementary feed before 6 months has said is the inadequate milk production leading to hungry baby etc.

Among the study population, 56% (14) of the women are aware about the importance of colostrums and 52% (13) of the women are in favour of giving prelacteal feeds.

Also, majority of women do not follow proper attachment techniques during breastfeeding and this accounts about 72% (18).

Discussion

Delivery is a spontaneous process and requires no intervention. Advance in medical technology in maternity care have drastically reduced maternal and infant mortality rate.

The study conducted among 25 patients demonstrated that 84% of them have adequate knowledge about the modes of delivery as compared to 60% who have adequate knowledge and 20% have moderate knowledge by a study conducted by V. Poongdi et al. [9] of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute regarding knowledge, attitude and modes of delivery among women attending antenatal clinic.

Antenatal counselling on contraceptive significantly increases the likelihood of women using contraception postpartum. It has several benefits such as improved method selection, birth spacing etc. Our study shows 72% of the women have adequate knowledge about contraception. 60% of them have positive attitude. Also 44% of the total study population have earlier used contraception which is very much similar to a study published on Asian Journal of Medical Science which shows 42% of women visiting Antenatal Clinic have ever used contraception. It shows limited practice of contraceptives despite having adequate knowledge and this can be attributed due to various factors such as educational status, family pressure, culture and norms, shyness etc. In our study condom is the most used contraceptive followed by ocp, implants and natural methods as compared to a study on knowledge, attitude and practice of contraception in AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan where most used is condom followed by intra uterine device and natural method [10]. Breastfeeding is considered as one of the fundamental factors which contributes to the overall growth, development and nutrition of a new born and infant. In our study 88% of the mother are aware of the importance of breastfeeding and 12% mothers are unaware about the importance of breastfeeding as compared to a study conducted by a teaching hospital at Wayanad, Kerala [11] where only 43.3% were aware about the importance of breastfeeding. In our study most of the women are aware about the importance of breastfeeding which is similar to the study conducted on knowledge, attitude and breastfeeding practices of postnatal mothers in Jammu by Kiran Bala et al. [12].

Conclusion

It is evident from the present study that the knowledge about mode of delivery among the pregnant is adequate, also there is more positive attitude regarding vaginal delivery as compared to caesarean section. The knowledge about various modes of contraception is again adequate and also majority of the population positive attitude towards contraception usage but most of them failed to practice contraception due to various constraints such as educational status, culture and norms, family pressure and shyness. Here comes the importance of counselling both antenatal and postnatal to reinforce the importance of counselling where we can adequately inform the mother about the various modes, benefits, side effects of contraceptives as well as give them the liberty to choose their mode of contraceptives as mentioned by the cafeteria approach of contraceptives by Govt. of India.

Regarding lactation, it is evident most of the pregnant mothers are aware about the importance of breastfeeding, its benefits for baby as well as mother. Also, mothers are aware about exclusive breastfeeding and have positive attitude towards it.

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