Birth Preparedness among Antenatal Mothers.

Pregnancy is the vital event in the life of a woman. It needs special attention from the time of conception to the postnatal stage. Preparing for the childbirth is one of the most exciting times for a woman. The present study was aimed to determine the extent of birth preparedness and to find out the association of birth preparedness among antenatal mothers with selected demographic variables. An exploratory study was carried out among antenatal mothers residing at selected villages of Amritsar, Punjab. Data was collected from 100 antenatal mothers by convenient sampling technique. Birth preparedness interview schedule was adopted. Out of 100 antenatal mothers 69% had poor extent of birth preparedness followed by 31% had average birth preparedness. Majority (90%) of antenatal mothers had identified the place of delivery, 83% had identified the skilled birth attendant, 69% had arranged the transportation for delivery, 35% had saved money for delivery and only 10% had arranged the blood donor in case of an emergency. Seventy five percent, forty nine percent and forty one percent antenatal mothers knew ≤3 danger signs during pregnancy, childbirth and first two days after birth respectively and sixty six percent antenatal mothers knew ≤3 danger signs during the first seven days after birth that could endanger the life of new-born. Factors which showed significant association on birth preparedness was age, education, socio economic status and trimester at (p<0.05). It concluded that age, education, socio economic status and trimester resulted in better birth preparedness in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]