Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Periconceptional Folic Acid Supplementation in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Objectives: To determine knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of women clients and their attendants regarding periconceptional folic acid supplementation. Study Design: Cross-sectional survey Place and Duration: Out Patient Department (OPD) of Mother and Child Health Center (MCHC), Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) Islamabad from 1st August 2015 to 31st October 2015. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and sixteen participants including 136 women clients and 180 attendants (161 male and 19 female) were included by convenient sampling technique. Medical student researchers conducted the interviews after obtaining written consent from the participants. A structured questionnaire with closed ended questions was used to assess KAP. SPSS version 20 was used for analysis and co-relations were obtained using chi-square test. Results: Of the 316 participants mean age was 29.55 (±8.38) years. Only 42.4% had heard about Folic acid (59.7% women clients versus 40.3% attendants). Knowledge of male attendants was lower than female attendants (26.7% versus 57.9%). Knowledge was more in educated participants (70.3% for graduates), age group of 15-44 years (42.6%), participants having 2 or more children (49.5%). There was significant correlation of Patients/ Attendants, Age, Education and Number of children with Knowledge of folic acid supplementation (p=0.009). Conclusions: Most of the participants interviewed had no knowledge about folic acid. Attendants were more ignorant than patients, especially so for males. Knowledge was more in reproductive age groups, well educated participants and those having 2 or more children.