Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practices of Malaria among Pregnant Women Accessing Antenatal Care Services in Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Benue State

Abstract

This study investigated knowledge, attitude and preventive practices of malaria among pregnant women accessing antenatal care services in Ogbadibo Local Government Area (LGA), Benue State. Three specific objectives, three corresponding research questions and 3 null hypotheses guided the study. The cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of 10,743 pregnant women accessing antenatal care services in all the 40 primary health centres in Ogbadibo LGA, Benue State. The sample size used in the study consisted of 432 pregnant women drawn using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practices of Malaria Questionnaire (KAPPMQ) was used for data collection. The split-half (Spearman-Brown Correlation Coefficient) method was used to establish the reliability (internal consistency) of sections B and D of the instrument with a reliability coefficient of .88 and .73 respectively while Cronbach’s Alpha was used to establish the internal consistency of section C of the instrument with a reliability coefficient of .885. Data were analysed using Frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, t-test, chi-square and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that overall, a high proportion (80.7%) of pregnant women accessing antenatal care services possessed knowledge of malaria, had positive attitude towards malaria (=2.89; SD =.636), a high proportion (78.1%) adopted preventive practices for malaria. Additionally, there was a significant difference in the attitude towards malaria based on educational level (F(3,416)= 44.396; p=.000). It was recommended among others that public health educators should design and implement community-based malaria education programmes that emphasize preventive practices and correct misconceptions among pregnant women.