Abstract :
Introduction: Pregnancy is a normal physiological process in life of women but many of
child-waiting females face a tragic death as a result of complications during or following pregnancy
and childbirth.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess knowledge regarding obstetric danger signs
among antenatal mothers attending a tertiary level hospital.
Methods and Materials: Descriptive cross sectional design was used to find out the knowledge
regarding obstetric danger signs among antenatal mothers. The population of the study comprised
of pregnant women of reproductive age group (15–49 years old); and were attending in antenatal
OPD for antenatal checkup. Non-probability, purposive sampling technique was used and face to
face interview schedule was adopted. Total 252 mothers were interviewed from December 2 to 24,
2014, and data had been processed by SPSS 20:00 version then analyzed using descriptive as well
as inferential statistic.
Results: The study revealed that 96 % (242) of respondents had heard about some danger signs
during pregnancy, labour and postpartum period. Fifty two percent had moderate knowledge,
44.4% had inadequate knowledge and remaining had adequate knowledge about some danger
signs during pregnancy, labour and postpartum period. The study had also shown that there is
significant association between overall knowledge on obstetric danger signs and age, gravida,
number of ANC visit of present pregnancy and occupation of respondents ( p -value < 0.05) but
there is no significant association between educational status, age of first pregnancy and age at
marriage of respondents ( p -value > 0.05)
Conclusion: This study shows that majority of the respondents had heard about obstetric danger
signs of mothers and baby but only few respondents had adequate knowledge and majority had a
moderate knowledge and knew about birth preparedness and complications readiness.
Keyword :
Knowledge, Obstetric danger signs, Antenatal mother, Birth Preparedness, Complication readiness.