Knowledge And Practice Of Preconception Care And Associated Factors Among Obstetric Care Providers Working In Public Health Facilities Of West Shoa Zone, Oromia Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Preconception care is biomedical, social, and behavioral care provided for a woman or couples before conception occurs or throughout their reproductive year. In Ethiopia, it's reported that the majority of health care providers had poor knowledge and practice of preconception care. In West Shoa Zone, more than seventy percent of women did not hear about preconception care and only a few of them got information and counseling from the health care providers. Even though in Ethiopia some studies were conducted among total health care providers, there is a paucity of information on knowledge and practice of preconception care among obstetric care providers in West Shoa Zone Oromia, Ethiopia. Objective: To assess knowledge and practice of preconception care and associated factors among obstetric care providers in public health facilities of West Shoa Zone, Oromia Ethiopia,2021 Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted among 359 obstetric care providers. A simple random sampling technique was used to enroll study participants. Self administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. The Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for analysis. Variables with a p-value of <0.25 in the bivariate analysis were the candidate for multivariate logistic regression. In multivariate logistic regression, odds ratios and their 95%CI were used to test the strength of association, and statistical significance was declared at the p-value of < 0.05. Result: The total response rate was 99% and near to half 168 (46.8%) of respondents were midwives. In this study, 173(48.2%) and 124 (34.5%) of the obstetric care providers had good knowledge and practice of preconception care respectively. The odds of having good knowledge were high among providers who, have training on HIV[AOR:3.5,95%CI:1.9-6.4], had library[AOR:1.7,95%CI:1.04-2.85] & internet access [AOR:3.4,95%CI:2.0-5.8]. The odds of having good practice of preconception care were higher among providers, who did screening for reproductive life plan[AOR: 3.7, 95%CI:1.8–7.4], Working in Mother and child health unit[AOR:4.2,95%CI:2.0-8.6], and perceive all health care providers should give PCC services [AOR:3.0, 95% CI: 1.7 – 5.5]. Conclusions and recommendations: This study found that more than half of obstetric care providers‟ had poor knowledge and poor practice of preconception care. Their professions, educational status, having training, reading guideline, internet, and library access in health facilities were associated with their knowledge and practice. Provision of training, carrier development, and installation of internet and library services in working facilities should be enhanced.