Knowledge and attitudes towards labour pain relief amongst pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the women and Newborn Hospital, University Teaching Hospitals, Lusaka

Abstract

Labour pain is described as severe by most women and hence the use of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods for its relief. Low levels of awareness of labour pain relief have been noted in LMIC‟s compared to more developed countries. The present study sought to determine the knowledge and attitude towards labour pain relief amongst 385 parturients attending antenatal clinic at Women and Newborn Hospital, University Teaching Hospitals, Lusaka, Zambia from August to November 2017. This was a cross-sectional study and a semi-structured interview was conducted with data collected in form of questionnaires. Data was analysed using Stata SE13. The majority of the women were fairly well educated (87 percent secondary level education and higher) and multigravidas (77 percent). Only 35 percent of the women had knowledge of labour pain relief. The main factors influencing knowledge were education (P = < 0.001, CI 2.18 – 4.61) and employment (P = <0.001, CI 2.04 – 5.03). The main sources of information on labour pain relief were health workers and the internet. Most of the women (74 percent) expressed a desire to have labour pain relief at next delivery. None of the independent variables under study were found to influence attitude towards labour pain relief. There is a low level of knowledge on labour pain relief amongst pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the Women and Newborn Hospital, however, once they know that such an option exists, most of them are willing to receive labour pain relief during delivery. Inclusion of such lessons as part of routine antenatal care as well as using the media i.e. television and online resources would greatly help in increasing women‟s knowledge on the matter. Key words: Knowledge, Attitude, Labour pain relief, Antenatal