Nutritional Knowledge and Practices among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Health Facilities in Nnewi-South Local Government Area, Anambra State

Abstract

Inadequate nutrition by pregnant women could lead to complications like anemia and birth defects. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to investigate the nutritional knowledge and practices among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in health facilities in Nnewi-South Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine the nutritional knowledge of pregnant women and the sources of nutritional knowledge among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in health facilities in Nnewi-South LGA. A sample size of 207 pregnant women was recruited using total population sampling technique. Questionnaire titled Nutritional Knowledge and Practices among Pregnant Women was administered to the respondents to elicit information. The reliability of the instrument was established using the test-retest method and Cronbach’s alpha showed correlational score of 0.876. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analyses. The result showed that the overall score for knowledge level of nutrition among the respondents was good (92.3%); the majority of the respondents had sources of nutritional knowledge from ANC classes (95.2%) and midwives (94.2%). There was a significant association between the pregnant women’s practice of nutrition and their educational qualification (P-value 0.004). In addition, myths and taboos as well as nutritional knowledge of pregnant women had no significant influence on nutritional practices among the pregnant women respectively (P=0.12; P=0.123). Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that nurses should intensify health education on nutrition in pregnancy in antenatal clinics, information about nutrition in pregnancy should be disseminated to all the communities in Nnewi-South Local Government Area, and teaching aids like food items should be used during health education on nutrition to the pregnant women.