Adequacy of Prenatal Care in Pregnant Women Referring to Health Centers

The aim of this study was to investigate the adequacy of prenatal care in pregnant women referring to health centers in Qom in 2016. It was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. The data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of four sections of pregnancy care characteristics (time of first care and number of care and calculation of care adequacy), demographic characteristics, midwifery and medical records, and factors preventing the correct receipt of prenatal care. The sample was 261 mothers who had referred to health centers in Qom in 2016 for prenatal care. This study applied stratified sampling method. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed that 26.1% of pregnant women accounted for insufficient care adequacy, 18.8% with moderate adequacy, 50.2% with adequate care and 5% with excessive adequacy of pregnancy care. Regarding the demographic characteristics of mothers, there was no significant difference between the adequacy of prenatal care for employed and housewives, Iranian and non-Iranian women, women living in rented houses and private homes. The adequacy of maternal antenatal care was not significantly related to any of the variables of midwifery and medical records. Only mothers with a history of natural childbirth had a higher rate of pregnancy adequacy than others. There was no significant difference between the adequacy of prenatal care and the factors that prevented this care.