Pregnant women's knowledge and perceptions of caesarean section in Lagos state, Nigeria

Abstract

Background Caesarean section is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's (laparotomy) and uterus (hysterotomy) to deliver babies. It is one of the most important operations performed in obstetrics and gynaecology. Aim To assess women's knowledge and perceptions of caesarean section in three selected primary health care centres in Mushin Local Government Area, Lagos. Method This was a non-experimental descriptive study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 128 respondents in the three selected health care centres. Data were manually collected and analysed electronically with the use of SPSS version 20 computer software. Result Of the respondents, 41.9% were aged range of 30–34 years, while only 2.4% were aged 40 years and above. The majority of the respondents (79.8%) had a good knowledge of caesarean section although 68.5% had negative perceptions of caesarean section. There was a significant association between respondents' knowledge of caesarean section and their perception (P<0.05). Conclusions The majority of the women in this study had a good knowledge of caesarean section, although more than half of the respondents had negative perceptions of caesarean section. The majority of respondents were unwilling to undergo caesarean section even when it was indicated.