Knowledge of Primigravida Women Regarding Birth Preparedness

Background: Maternal mortality is a substantial burden in developing countries. Improving maternal mortality has been received recognition at the global level as evidenced by the inclusion of reducing maternal mortality in millennium development goals. The figures state that every five minutes one woman somewhere in India dies, and 10 lakh newborn deaths each year. In this context, birth preparedness is a comprehensive strategy to promote the timely use skilled maternal and neonatal care, especially during childbirth, based on theory that preparing for childbirth reduces delays in obtaining this care. Objective: To assess the knowledge regarding birth preparedness among primigravida women. Material and methods: This was an exploratory study, where a structured questionnaire for assessing knowledge was administered in face- to- face interviews with primigravida women who agreed to participate in study in selected civil hospital Ludhiana. The pilot study was conducted in month of March 2013 on 6 primigravida women. Analysis of data was done in accordance with objectives. The data was collected in month of April 2013 with 50 samples in civil hospital, Ludhiana. The data analysis was done by using the descriptive and inferential statistics by calculating the frequency, percentage, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA. The level of significance chosen were p<0.001 level and pie and bar charts were used to depict the findings. Findings: The findings showed that majority of primigravida women i.e. 55% had average knowledge score and very few primigravida women i.e. 8.3% had poor knowledge. While analyzing knowledge of primigravida women with selected demographic variables it was found that there was a significant relationship of age, education, duration of pregnancy, income and source of information. Conclusion: The study revealed that majority of primigravida women had average knowledge score and few had poor knowledge score. As there is a lacunae in knowledge regarding birth preparedness among primigravida women, thus guidelines should be given to primigravida women to improve knowledge of primigravida women regarding birth preparedness.