A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge Regarding Antenatal Diet among Pregnant Women at Selected Hospital, Amritsar in a View to Develop Health Education Booklet

Abstract

Antenatal period is a very crucial period for both mother and fetus. Diet during pregnancy is played an important role for maintaining maternal health and growth and development of fetus. Pregnant women need more essential nutrient than non pregnant women. Adequate supply of food during pregnancy can reduce the risk of baby developing neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Poor nutrition during pregnancy is well known to contribute the adverse pregnancy outcome. So, mother should take proper nutrition diet during pregnancy in order to prevent maternal and fetal complication and to promote delivery of the healthy baby. The objective of the present study was to assess the knowledge regarding antenatal diet among pregnant women at selected hospitals in Amritsar. A descriptive design was adopted. Sample size of 100 pregnant women was selected by purposive sampling technique. A self-structured knowledge questionnaire was used to collect the data from pregnant women. Descriptive and inferential was used in data analysis. The study result showed that out of 100 samples, majority (67%) of the pregnant women had good knowledge, (28%) had average knowledge, and only (5%) of them had poor knowledge on antenatal diet. There is a significant association of knowledge with selected socio-demographic variables as age (2 = 32.98), religion (2 = 23.67), education (2 = 17.97), family income (2 = 22.59) and there is no significant association with occupation (2 = 7.15), type of family (2 = 4.57), and source of information (2 = 7.86). The result of the study reveals that pregnant women of selected hospitals had more knowledge regarding antenatal diet.

Keywords: antenatal diet, knowledge, pregnant women