Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards COVID-19 Infection during Pregnancy among Antepartum Women

Abstract

Background: Pregnant women are more susceptible to developing severe cases of COVID-19. They need to be more careful during the antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum periods to prevent untoward outcomes. As no definite treatment for COVID- 19 has yet been proven,  the only effective approach to prevent unfavorable outcome is by increasing awareness of  COVID-19 among pregnant women and by encouraging them to follow the necessary prevention methods. This study was done to know, if the adherence to the recommended preventive practices were influenced by the knowledge and attitude of the mothers and whether having a good knowledge and attitude led to better adherence to prevention methods. It also aims to assess if current knowledge on the effects of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy among antenatal women is sufficient or if more efforts have to be taken to educate the mothers regarding the same. Aims: This research aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and precautionary measures taken towards COVID-19 infection in pregnancy among antenatal women attending the outpatient clinic. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted in Saveetha Medical College Hospital from January 2021 to March 2021. All antenatal women attending the obstetrics outpatient clinic were included in the study. After obtaining their consent, each woman was given a semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire to solve on the spot. The statistical analysis used were descriptive analysis, proportions, percentages, chi-square test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Among the 465 pregnant women included in the study, 86.02% had good knowledge of COVID-19 and its impact on pregnancy, 89.89% of women held a positive attitude towards battling the pandemic and 98.92% had good prevention practices against COVID-19 infection. There was a significant association between age and knowledge and a significant association between socioeconomic status with the knowledge, attitude, or preventive practices of the patients and between education level and attitude of the women at p<0.05. Knowledge, attitude and prevention were found to be strongly positively correlated indicating that with an increase in the knowledge there is an increase in attitude and practice of preventive measures by pregnant women. Conclusion: The women included in this study had adequate knowledge and a good attitude towards the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and lactation. They also take necessary precautionary methods to safeguard against acquiring COVID -19 infection.