Knowledge and attitude regarding obstetric ultrasound among pregnant women: a cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Ultrasound examination forms an integral part of antenatal care both in high risk and normal pregnancies. Even though it acts as a source of reassurance about the well-being of her baby and also a source of connecting with her baby in the antenatal period, for many pregnant mothers in India it is still only a tool for sex determination and its other major uses remain in the background. Fear regarding its safety and doubts about its necessity are also prevalent among pregnant women. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge of antenatal mothers regarding the uses of ultrasound during pregnancy and also to assess their attitude towards ultrasound. Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study carried out in Sri Manakula Vinayagar medical college and hospital, Puducherry, India between the periods of April 2014 to July 2014. 300 pregnant women were selected by simple random sampling among patients attending the antenatal clinic for routine checkup irrespective of their parity. After obtaining informed consent, these women were given a predesigned, self-administered questionnaire in local language that had questions on socio demographic data, knowledge regarding use of ultrasound in pregnancy, attitude towards ultrasound, source of information about ultrasound and awareness regarding PNDT act. The data was entered in SPSS and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Although awareness regarding the indications for USG during pregnancy was found to be fairly good among the participants , 36 % of the them assumed determination of sex in utero as an indication for ultrasound.88% of them considered ultrasound as safe and 98% considered it essential. 26% of the pregnant women considered that sex determination was permissible by law. Most of them obtained information regarding ultrasound from health providers and the role of media was negligible. Conclusions: Awareness regarding the uses of USG during pregnancy and attitude towards ultrasound was good but knowledge about recommendations of PNDT act was lacking in pregnant women and so every possible route particularly extensive media coverage can be used to create awareness regarding the recommendations of the PNDT act to the public.