KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF ANTENATAL CARE SERVICES AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN ILORIN SOUTH LGA, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Lack of knowledge and poor practice of Antenatal care services led Pregnant Women towards registering with untrained
birth attendance which resulted to several complications such as Virginal bleeding, Placenta previa and death of the
Mother and the Baby. This study was carried out to investigate knowledge and practice of Antenatal care services
among Pregnant Women in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State. A descriptive research design of the
survey type was employed for this study. The population of the study comprised of all Pregnant Women in Ilorin South
Local Government Area of Kwara State. Multi-stage sampling technique of simple random sampling technique,
proportionate sampling technique and accidental sampling techniques were used to select 495 respondents for this
study. A researchers-developed questionnaire validated by three experts in the field of Health Promotion and
Environmental Health Education was used for the study. A reliability coefficient (r) of 0.76 was obtained through split
half method using Cronbach alpha. The data collected were analyzed using the inferential statistics of ANOVA to test
the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings from the study reveal that, there is a significant difference of
(M = 10.00, SD = 1.0) in the knowledge of antenatal care services among Pregnant Women in Ilorin South Local
Government Area of Kwara State, there is a significant difference of (M = 38.7, SD = 3.5) in the practice of antenatal
care services among pregnant women in Ilorin south Local Government Area of Kwara State. Based on the findings
of the study, it was concluded that PregnantWomen in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State have
differences in knowledge and practice of Antenatal care services based on their educational and economic status.
Therefore, the researchers recommended among others that the Health Educators should carry out enlightenment
campaign programme for couples through Mass Media on the value of Antenatal care services during Pregnancy to
promote the health of Pregnant Women as well as that of their Fetus.