Awareness of preconception and pregnancy care among third year undergraduate students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Preconception and pregnancy care are critical as they ensure the health and well-being of both the mother and baby. This study attempted to evaluate the awareness of preconception and pregnancy care among third-year undergraduates of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. The objectives are to describe the awareness of preconception and pregnancy care among third-year undergraduate students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 327 third-year students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka who were selected by a simple stratified randomized sampling method. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Variables were analyzed using SPSS.26. The mean age of the participants was 24.27 years (SD ±0.980). and the median age was 24 years. Nearly three-quarters of the participants were females and 97% were unmarried. The ethnic composition of the study population comprised Tamil (45.3%), Sinhala (37.3), and Muslims (17.4). Our study population included participants from all districts of the country and 43.4% were from rural areas. Majority of the students had moderate knowledge (56.9%) and neutral attitudes (82.3%) on preconception and pregnancy care. The study showed a statistically significant association between knowledge and attitude (P = .002); knowledge and students’ faculty (p = 0.000), their residency (p = 0.001) and, ethnicity (p = 0.000); attitudes and students’ faculty (p = 0.000), gender (p = 0.023) and ethnicity (0.028). The majority of third year students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka had moderate knowledge and neutral attitude on preconception and pregnancy care.