Introduction: Pregnancy is considered a life-changing moment for almost every woman in her child bearing age. Nevertheless, it becomes challenging whenever complications commence be it physically, mentally or emotionally as they might pose a threat to the lives of both the mother and fetus. Hypertensive disorders are leading causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early detection and treatment is one of the ways that can help combat this fatal condition and in order to achieve this, the community must have adequate knowledge and skills concerning the condition and should also be provided with emergency care.
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge levels of women as well as attitudes towards preeclampsia and eclampsia.
Method: This was a cross-sectional study on pregnant women of Kitwe. The target population was identified using a purposive sampling technique with a sample size of 143. Data was collected from the women themselves using structured questionnaires through face to face interviews. The questionnaires were made in such a way that even those who only understood the local language were able to benefit from the survey. Data analysis was done using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.
Results: During the study, 128 patients agreed to answer the questionnaire out of the calculated sample size of 143 giving a response rate of 89.5%. The study revealed that 77.3% of the participants have heard of the terms PE/E but only 5.5% knew what either term meant. In this study, 64 (50.0%) of the participants were moderately knowledgeable, 54 (42.2%) were poorly knowledgeable and only 10 (7.8%) had good knowledge regarding PE. With regards to attitude towards preeclampsia, 32 (25.0%) of the participants had good attitude while 31 (24.2%) had poor attitude towards pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Most participants agreed that PE/E is a danger to their health (66%) and that regular ANC follow up (77%) can reduce the risk of having it.
Conclusion: This study reveals that participants do suffer from PE and have heard of the term from different sources like the community, friends and neighbors, their doctors etc. but only a small proportion know and understand what the term means and were able to describe it.
There is very poor knowledge regarding it and negative attitude by most pregnant women. Therefore, it is important that these women be made aware of the dangers of PE, as well as symptoms and how to prevent it.
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