Assessment of nutritional knowledge, beliefs and practices of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko health center Buea
Department: Nursing
No of Pages: 44
Project Code: NS7
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
Nutrition
is about eating the right food for good health, growth and development. This
study was carried out to assess the nutritional knowledge beliefs and practices
among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the Intergrated Molyko health
center Buea.
The
purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, beliefs and practices among
pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the Integrated Molyko health
center Buea. This study adopted a hospital based cross sectional design. The
subjects were made of women of various ages with different socio-economic
levels.
A
total of 100 pregnant women were selected as sample size of the study. The
research questions were analysed using the sample percentage frequency counts. Overall
women showed good general knowledge about nutrition and the need for increased
and varied food during pregnancy, but little technical knowledge about
nutrients and sources of nutrition.
87%
have favourable responses regarding their beliefs about nutrition while 13% had
negative responses. Lastly, 75% of participants had good practices on nutrition
while 25% had poor practices According
to results obtained majority of the participants had knowledge relating to
nutrition in pregnancy. They also had good beliefs as well as good practices on
nutrition in pregnancy
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Nutrition
is about eating a healthy and balanced diet so your body gets the nutrients
that it needs. Nutritional concerns in pregnancy are gaining increasing
importance as problems with obesity; poor nutrition and improper weight gain
during pregnancy have been shown to result in morbidity for mother and infant
during the pregnancy.
Nutritional
requirements increase during pregnancy can influence the growth development and
health of the mother and her unborn child Lim et al (2018). According to
Zelalem et al (2017) evidence showed that nutrition education during pregnancy
has significant impact on dietary habit of pregnant women and on maternal and
birth outcome of pregnancy.
World
Health Organization recommends that health care providers need to give
adequate, specific, and acceptable nutrition related advice to pregnant women
during every visit of antenatal care. Adequate and quality maternal nutrition
is important for the health and reproductive performance of women as well as
the health, survival and development of children.
Improvements
in maternal nutrition can reduce multiple risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes
such as fetal growth restriction, low birth weight babies, and small for
gestational age babies. It also helps prevent micronutrient deficiencies.
Nutrition
knowledge and attitude are important factors of dietary practices and are thus
potential targets for appropriate planning of nutrition interventions for
vulnerable population groups like those lactating and women that are pregnant.
Nutrition education enhances nutrition knowledge, thereby influencing attitude
and practices towards good nutrition. (Taddese Alemu & Sibhatu Biadgilign
2018)
The
knowledge of nutrition by pregnant women is very important, as this will enable
them to know the kind of food or drugs to take at any given time. The knowledge
of nutrition enables pregnant women to be aware of the type of nutrition to be
taken, helps pregnant women to identify and eat those foods that assist their
unborn babies to be healthy (Uzor, 2006)
The
practice of nutrition among pregnant women is equally important. This is
because, it is one thing to have the knowledge of nutrition and or believe in
intake of particular foods, it is very crucial and recommendable for pregnant
mothers to form the regular habits of practicing eating good and healthy diets
or food as the benefits there from are great(Barnes, 1990)
Good
nutrition is a basic necessity for normal organ development and function,
reproduction, growth and maintenance of optimum resistance to infection and
ability to repair body damages (Banks, 1993).
Nutritional
beliefs of pregnant women mean traditional beliefs regarding harmful and
beneficial foods for women during pregnancy. There are also beliefs regarding
the optimal amount of food to be taken during pregnancy for a successful
reproductive outcome.
These
beliefs may or may not conform to the modern biomedical notions about the
proper type and amount of food needed by pregnant women to safeguard maternal
nutrition, adequate growth of foetus and safe delivery. In Cameroon, many women
who are pregnant are not exposed to knowledge, belief and practice of
nutrition.
This
is due to the level of education among women. Most pregnant women in Cameroon
are illiterate and dwell in the rural areas where information dissemination is
difficult and therefore, most pregnant women in Cameroon do not practice
nutrition. Not only being illiterate, they lack the where withal to purchase
and at whatever diet they need due to poverty. (Abenwie et al 2016)
1.2. Statement of the Problem
Nutritional
deficiency is a fatal health problem in the world, Africa and Cameroon, when
there is nutritional inadequacy, the mother immune system weakens thereby
exposing her to various illnesses, intrauterine death may occur, pregnancy may
be threatened, fetal growth restriction and the woman may lose her life.
Nutritional deficiencies cause’s fetal abnormalities plus brain damages and low
birth weight.
Thus,
health education of the women attending antenatal clinic should be emphasized as this will help
prevent and reduce complications. Globally approximately 13% of women are
estimated to be undernourished, 38% suffer from anaemia.
Furthermore,
micronutrient deficiencies particularly vitamin A, zinc, iodine and iron affect
more than 2 billion pregnant women worldwide with adverse effects which include
premature death, poor health, blindness, stunting, reduce cognitive development
and low productive capacity (WHO 2009).
In our society, there is strong attachment to beliefs and cultural norms
even among the educated ones.
While
we agree that some of these beliefs and the practices are good, the others may
not be so good. Recorded advances in medicines and medical services
notwithstanding, majority of the pregnant women seem to prefer taking
instructions on nutrition and antenatal healthcare from traditional birth
attendants due to fear of unnecessary medical interventions and also because
it’s cheap.
Thus,
this study seeks to assess nutritional knowledge, beliefs and practices to
enable health workers structure a balance diet for them in line with available
local food stuffs.
1.3. Research Question
1.3.1. Main Research Question
- What are the nutritional knowledge beliefs and practices among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea
1.3.2 Specific Research
Questions
- What is the level of knowledge pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea have with respect to nutrition?
- What are the nutritional belief systems of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea
- What are the nutritional practices of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea.
1.4. Research Objectives
1.4.1 Main Research
Objective
- The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, beliefs and practices among pregnant women attending Antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea.
1.4.2 Specific Research
Objectives
- To determine the level of knowledge of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea have on nutrition in pregnancy
- To determine the nutritional belief system of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea
- To investigate how pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the integrated Molyko Health center Buea practice the intake of good food.
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