ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE REGARDING MATERNAL NUTRITION AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CARE IN SAINT PAUL’S HOSPITAL MILLENIUM MEDICAL COLLEGE , ADDIS ABABA, 2018

Abstract

Abstract Back ground: Nutrition is fundamental pillar of human life, so without it, life could extinct at its infancy, so likewise maternal nutrition during pregnancy is very importance because pregnancy is time in which the nutrition demand is increase to meet the need of both mother and growing fetus. Any nutrition inadequacy during pregnancy could result to deleterious effect on both mother and fetus as well. So this study focused more on knowledge, attitude and practice of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and was conducted at Saint Paul’s Hospital, Addis Ababa, among women who came for Antenatal Care follow up. Objectives: The objective of this research study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding maternal nutrition among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Saint Paul’s Hospital, 2018. Methods: An institutional based cross sectional study was done and relevant data was collected among 286 pregnant women attending Antenatal Care follow up in Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The systemic sampling procedure was used. The data was collected with self-administer questionnaire. Data collecting mechanism was primary and individual values were confidential and SPSS 21 was used for the analysis of the data. Result: The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. This study showed that among 286 pregnant mother only 100(35%), 162(56.7%) and 109(38%) of pregnant women had good knowledge, favorable attitude and good practices of nutrition during pregnancy respectively. Conclusion and Recommendation: The knowledge, attitude and practices of nutrition during pregnancy were relatively low in this study area. It is recommended providing adequate health education about proper and balanced maternal nutrition at antenatal care for future mothers and during early pregnancy especially those who come for Antenatal care. Key words: Knowledge; Attitude; Practice; Nutrition; Pregnancy; Antenatal care.