Preconception Care Knowledge And Associated Factors Among Ambo Town Reproductive Age Group Women, West Shoa, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Preconception care is a set of interventions and programmes that aims to identify and enable informed decision-making to modify biomedical, behavioral, and social risks through counseling, prevention and management of risk factors before pregnancy. Millions of women in the world do not have access to pre-pregnancy service with suitable quality. Therefore addressing this important topic and coming up with necessary information will help to improve maternal and child health in our country. Objective: To assess preconception care knowledge and associated factors among reproductive age group women in Ambo town, Ambo, Ethiopia, 2024 G.C Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was employed from January 15 to March 01, 2024 in Ambo town. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 480 reproductive age group women from three kebeles. Data were collected using mobile Kobo Toolbox android application then cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive analysis was used for summarizing continuous variables. Binary logistic regression analysis were done and variables with a P- value < 0.25 in bivariate analysis were transferred to multivariate analysis. In multivariate, a P- value ≤0.05 and OR with 95% CI considered for the presence of a statistically significant association. Result: A total of 480 reproductive age women were involved in this study, with a response rate of 96.1%. Women’s Knowledge on preconception care was 15.6% (95% CI: 12, 19). College diploma and above women AOR: 6.13 (95% CI: 1.81, 10.77), Women’s who have ever heard about PCC AOR: 16.14 (95% CI: 6.53, 13.89), Women who have positive attitude towards preconception care AOR: 2.77 (95% CI: 1.2, 6.37) were significantly associated with knowledge of preconception care. Conclusions and recommendation: The study showed overall prevalence of preconception care knowledge among reproductive age women of ambo town was low. Having a better educational level, ever hearing about preconception care and having good attitude towards to preconception care has positive effect on knowledge of PCC. Therefore, programs need to incorporate PCC as a routine part of primary health care when designing effective implementation strategies for improving preconception care service.