Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) Assessment Towards COVID- 19 Outbreak Among Pregnant Women at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central India: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: In an effort to curb the spread of COVID 19 outbreak, Government of India have imposed aseries of preventive measures along with the media campaigns, disseminate information to the general public during the pandemic. Adherence to these measures is important to combat this pandemic when there is no definitive treatment available. However the level of knowledge and practice of these preventive measures among pregnant women who constitute a vulnerable group is yet to be evaluated. Aims and Objectives: To assess the knowledge. attitude and practice towards COVID 19 outbreak among pregnant women and descibe the association of various demographic characters with KAP. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted for pregnant women attending antenatal OPD at Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur. We have interviewed 497 pregnant women attending our antenatal OPD with a questionnaire of 14 questions.The response rates were scored and also association of different demographic score with KAP score was analysed. Median and standard deviation (SD) were calculated for KAP score and Chi square test and Annova test were used to analyse the association of demographic variables with KAP. Results: In our study scores of good knowledge, positive attitude and good practice were 81%, 90.54% and 86.12% respectively. Education, socioeconomic status and parity had significant association with KAP score. Conclusion: Majority of the pregnant women attending our OPD had good knowledge, practices and positive attitude toward COVID 19. The results of our study may help health authorities in managing these vulnerable population and implementing educational programmes since awareness and prevention is the only way to curb the spread of this novel disease