What do women know before getting pregnant? Knowledge of preconception care and associated factors among pregnant women in Mana district, Southwest Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge of preconception care and associated factors among pregnant women in Mana district, Jimma zone, Oromia Region, Southwest Ethiopia, in 2019. DESIGN: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 2 March to 10 April 2019. SETTING: The study was conducted in Mana district. Eight rural Gandas and one urban Ganda were included in the study. PARTICIPANTS: Out of 715 pregnant women in the selected rural Gandas, 553 participated in the study, whereas 70 out of 88 were recruited from the urban Ganda. A total of 623 pregnant women participated in the study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Women’s knowledge of preconception care was determined. Descriptive statistics were calculated as necessary. Logistic and linear regression analyses were used to identify the association of women’s knowledge of preconception care with explanatory variables. RESULTS: Among 623 respondents, 133 (21.3%) of pregnant women had good knowledge of preconception care. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that women who attended secondary and above education (β=3.6; p<0.001) and those for whom their husbands attended secondary and above education (β=2.3; p=0.001), planned pregnancy status (β=1.2; p=0.005), being on follow-up for pre-existing medical illnesses (β=1.5; p=0.014) and having four or more antenatal care visits (β=0.4; p=0.016) were significantly associated with women’s knowledge of preconception care. CONCLUSION: The findings imply that providing health education and health promotion for women is important to improve their level of knowledge of preconception care.