Knowledge, attitude and practice of antenatal care among women in Karachi slums
Author: Madiha Maryam Abbasi, madihamaryam@hotmail.com
Department: Department of sociology
University: University of Karachi , Pakistan
Supervisor: Dr. Rana Saba Sultan
Year of completion: 2025
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
Antenatal care
, Maternal health
, Reproductive health
, Women's health
Areas of Research:
Health
, Family Research
, Community Research
Abstract
The term used for attention given during pregnancy is known as antenatal care. Regular checkups allow health care professionals to monitor health of pregnant women by providing opportunity for preventive measures and early detection such as gestational diabetes, hypertension or infection. It offers platform for educating expectant mothers about nutrition, hygiene and life style choices. Finding out about the knowledge, attitude and practice of antenatal care among women of Karachi slums is the primary objective of this study. This study is based on positive approach. It is applied and descriptive in nature. Information sought was quantitative through cross- sectional survey. Through multi-stage sampling 500 slum-dwelling women who gave birth within five years prior to survey were interviewed. At first, cluster sampling method was used by making clusters of 5 districts of Karachi and alums were obtained by fishbowl method through a list of slums from the Human Rights Department, Government of Sindh. From each district 100 respondents were approached through snowball method. Consumption of nutritional supplement, use of ultrasound with educational status of women, type of delivery with number of children, practice of transportation with husband’s educational status, practice of availing information with number of visits, practice of delivery with income level were found to be related. Results revealed that (390) 78% and (377) 75.4% of the women have showed above average knowledge and attitude respectively and only (257) 59.4% had good practice. Knowledge, attitude and practice found to be related p= 0.000 at 5% significance level. It is concluded that despite good knowledge and attitude of antenatal care, they showed poor practice, which can be improved by exploring options for subsidized antenatal care at reduced costs as well as training and deploying community health care workers to support and encourage follow-up visits and enhancing health care facilities in or near slums areas to improve accessibility.
