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Shawe, J., Delbaere, I., Ekstrand, M., Hegaard, H.K., Larsson, M., Mastroiacovo, P., Stern, J., Steegers, E., Stephenson, J. and Tyden, T. (2015) Preconception Care Policy, Guidelines, Recommendations and Services across Six European Countries: Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The European Journal of Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Care, 20, 77-87.
https://doi.org/10.3109/13625187.2014.990088

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Provision of Preconception Care by Midwives, Nurses and Doctors at Ndola Teaching Hospital in Ndola District, Zambia

  AUTHORS: Gloria Sakanyi, Febian Chapima, Concepta Namukolo Kwaleyela

  KEYWORDS: Preconception Care, Provision, Knowledge, Practice, Attitude

  JOURNAL NAME: Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol.14 No.3, March 18, 2024

  ABSTRACT: Background: The goal of preconception care is to improve the outcome of a mother’s pregnancy and childbirth. Nevertheless, in most developing nations; Zambia included, there are still issues with implementation of preconception care. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish the provision of preconception care by midwives, nurses and doctors at Ndola Teaching Hospital in Zambia. Methods: A concurrent embedded mixed methodology utilising a descriptive explorative study design, where 107 respondents were randomly selected using the lottery technique for quantitative part and two focused group discussions for qualitative part of the study was used. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and a focus group discussion guide was used for the focus group discussions. Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 26 with significance set at 0.05 and at 95% confidence level and thematic analysis were used for data analysis. Results: 75% of the respondents in this study were not providing preconception care and only 25% of respondents were providing preconception care; however, this was provided randomly because there were no guidelines to follow. Among the respondents, 81.3% had medium knowledge, 70.1% had good practices and 92.5% had positive attitudes towards preconception care. Further analysis showed that the association between preconception care and knowledge, practices and attitudes was not statistically significant (p = values 0.336; 0.344; 1.000 respectively). Multivariate logistic regression revealed that participants with high knowledge were five times more likely to provide preconception care (OR = 5.00, CI = 0.42 - 59.7, P = 0.203). Generally, all the participants acknowledged that preconception care was an important package that could prevent maternal and child morbidities and mortalities. Conclusions: The study revealed that most of the respondents were not providing preconception care. Provision of preconception was done by a small fraction of the respondents and it was done in an unorderly manner due to lack of set standards and guidelines. Despite medium levels of knowledge and generally good practices and positive attitudes towards preconception care, its random provision indicates a need for established standards to enhance maternal and child health outcomes.