KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF PRECONCEPTION CARE AMONG FINAL YEAR FEMALE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AKURE, ONDO STATE

Abstract

Early inception of preconception care is essential for preventing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Preconception is the promotion of the health and wellbeing of a woman and her partner before pregnancy and improving health outcomes. Several studies in Nigeria assessing knowledge and practice of preconception care have focused mainly on adult women visiting antenatal care in the hospital. Hence, this study assessed the knowledge and practices of preconception care among final year female undergraduate students of Federal University of Technology Akure, (FUTA) Nigeria. The study was descriptive cross-sectional survey; a three-stage sampling technique was used to select 422 final year female undergraduate students in FUTA. A pretested semi-structured self-administered questionnaire which contained 4-point knowledge scale, 10-point practice scale and questions relating to factors affecting the practice of preconception care was used for data collection. Knowledge scores 0-1 and 2-4 points were categorized among those with good knowledge, while respondents that had just 1s point or no point had poor knowledge. Practice was also scored as 10 point scale; scores of 0-5 indicated as poor practices while scores greater than 5 indicated as good practices of preconception care. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and logistic regression, with level of significance set at 0.05. The mean age of the respondents was 23.6±2.3 years. Most of the respondents (90.1%) were single and 71.9% of them lived outside the campus. (47%) of the respondents reported to be aware of preconception care and 5.7% had good knowledge of it. Less than half (31.0%) of the respondents had good practice of preconception care. Those who were currently planning to get married (68.8%) and willing to seek medical care (58.6%) had better knowledge of preconception care. Similarly, respondents that were married (56.5%), practicing Islamic religion (45.0%), having regular monthly period (32.2%), that knew their HIV status (35.4%), who have ever heard of preconception care (39.7%), currently planning to marry (68.8%), who ever felt the need to attend medical screening (35.6%) and are willing to seek medical assistant before pregnancy (35.6%) significantly had better preconception care practices. The perception of the need to attend medical screening prior to

conception (OR=2.5, 95% CI=1.5-4.2). Having knowledge of HIV status (OR=2.9, 95% CI=0.4-1.8) and being aware of preconception care (OR=3.2, 95% CI=1.5-6.8) served as the main predictors of good preconception care practices. The study showed that knowledge and practice of preconception care was poor among the students. Advocating for policies that encourage preconception care practice and providing enabling environment for preconception care practice are recommended. In addition, efforts to establish health education counseling and intervention strategies that can facilitate preconceptions are also recommended.