Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices towards Covid-19 among Pregnant Women in a Tertiary Hospital in South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease that was first identified in December, 2019 in Wuhan, China. It is caused by a novel coronavirus, and was said to have emerged from a livestock market in Wuhan. The first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was discovered on the 27th of February, 2020, when an Italian national tested positive for the virus in Lagos. Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 among pregnant women at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa. Methods: This study was carried out at the antenatal clinic of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, South-South, Nigeria between 3rd August and 28th October, 2020. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population consisted pregnant women that presented to the antenatal clinic for their routine antenatal care. Selected patients’ bio-data and their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 were entered into a predesigned questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22. The results were presented in tables, frequencies and percentages. Results: A total of 1,000 participants participated in the study. Out of the total, the mean age was 28.86 years (16 – 41 years). A total of 995 participants (99.5%) resided in Bayelsa State. A lot of the participants (80%) knew that the main clinical symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, fatigue, dry cough and myalgia. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that the pregnant population of our facility have good knowledge, optimistic attitudes and somewhat appropriate practices towards COVID-19.