Determinants of dietary practices among pregnant women attending antenatal care at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, Anambra State

Abstract

Adequate nutrition during pregnancy is essential for health of the pregnant women and the baby. Poor nutrition during pregnancy resulting from poor dietary practices may lead to reprogramming within fetal tissues, and poses a risk factor for diet related diseases later in life. The study investigated the determinants of dietary practices among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital Awka; specifically, the study determined the dietary habits adopted by pregnant women; the factors influencing the dietary practices of the pregnant women and asses measures that could be adopted to improve nutritional practices of pregnant women. The population of the study was 600 registered pregnant women attending antenatal as at the time of the study. The sample size was 120 pregnant women that was randomly selected from the population, who accepted to participate in the study and were within the second and third trimester. The study design used for the study was a survey research design. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data collected was analysed using frequency and percentages. The major findings shows that the pregnant women dietary practice were inadequate as the women forbid certain foods during pregnancy due to religion, cultural belief, to avoid labour difficulty e.t.c. The respondents also agreed that low-economic status, poor nutritional knowledge, lack of husband support and ignorance/poor educational level was a challenge to their adequate dietary practice. It was concluded that nutrition education and counselling should be intergral part of ante-natal programe and that programs that will help elicit husband support should be encouraged.