KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICE AND BARRIERS TOWARD PRECONCEPTION CARE PRACTICES AMONG NURSES IN SELECTED HOSPITALS, OSOGBO NIGERIA: A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH

Preconception care has a positive impact on reduction in mortality and decreases the risk of adverse health effects for the woman, fetus, and neonate by optimizing the woman’s health and knowledge before planning and conceiving a pregnancy. This study investigate the knowledge, practice and barriers towards preconception care practices among nurses in selected hospitals, in Osogbo. The design of this study is descriptive cross-sectional, the target population are nurses and sample size determined is 62 by Yaro Yamane’s formular. The instrument use for this study is a structured pre-tested questionnaire. Data were analysed using the statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 25 version, presented in percentages, tables and frequencies including Chi-Square. The sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents shows that majority of respondents are within 21 to 30years (48.3%), female (93.5%) and are Christians by religion (59.7%). Further ndings reveal that majority of respondents are ADNS (25.8%) with 1 – 9 years of experience (62.9%). This study noted that the respondent knowledge about preconception care is very high (75%) and the practice is low (49%). The result of this also study revealed that lack of awareness and practice of preconception care (93.5%), Lack of preconception care policy and preconception care guidelines (85.5%), lack of provision and utilization of preconception care services within the healthcare system (71%), Limited Resources like time, health workforce, instruments, guidelines and reimbursements (93.5%), cultural beliefs (66.1%) and organizational issues within hospitals 57(71%) are the barriers to the practice of preconception care in this study This study indicate that the practice of preconception care among respondents is low.(49%) The result of the hypothesis tested shows that there is a relationship between nurses’ years of experience and the practice of preconception care (P=0.199) Based on the result of this study, it was recommended that the public should be health-educated and properly sensitized on the importance of preconception care and that the government should try to make available the required medical supplies to encourage preconception care.

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  • • Name: RAHMAT A. OYEKALE;
    • Email Address: rahmat.oyekale@uniosun.edu.ng
  • • Name: ADEYEMO M. O. A.
    • Email Address: moaadeyemo@gmail.com
  • • Name: STEPHEN G. OLAWALE
    • Email Address: gbadebo.olawale@uniosun.edu.ng
  • • Name: SCHOLASTIC A. O. MAKINDE
    • Email Address: scholastica.makinde@uniosun.edu.ng
  • • Name: DOSUMU TAIWO OMOTAYO;
    • Email Address: taiwo.dosumu@bowen.edu.ng
  • • Name: ADEGOKE JULIET. I.
    • Email Address: Juliet.adegoke@uniosun.edu.ng
  • • Name: OLUYEMI SUCCESS
    • Email Address: oluyemis@gmail.com
• Manuscript: KNOWLEDGE-PRACTICE-AND-BARRIERS-TOWARD-PRECONCEPTION-CARE-PRACTICES