Assessing antenatal health education given by nurse-midwives in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Background/Aims In Nigeria, nurse-midwives provide health information and support for pregnant women, as well as treating minor pregnancy-related concerns. Little is currently documented about the contents, methods and supporting structures available for antenatal health education in Osun state. This study explored the health education provided by nurse-midwives during antenatal care, including its contents, methods and resources, as well as barriers and facilitators to its provision. Methods This descriptive study used a checklist and questionnaires to gather data from 189 pregnant women and 14 nurse-midwives from six selected health facilities in Ile-Ife, Osun. Univariate and bivariate analyses were used to assess sociodemographic data, the contents of antenatal care education, education methods and barriers to health education. Results Personal and environmental hygiene, physical activity and exclusive breastfeeding were the main topics taught, with coverage declining by trimester. Lectures followed by a question and answer session were mainly used to educate women, but flip charts, models, audio, video and multimedia were also sparingly used to facilitate learning at antenatal clinics. Conclusions Current health education at antenatal clinics in Ile-Ife reflects the poor periodic training given to nurse-midwives, and a lack of structure to inform the methods and contents of antenatal education. Additionally, there were few resources available to facilitate learning activities. It is recommended that national guidelines on health education are formulated and made available to facilitate unified and accurate education for pregnant women.