Effect of Maternal Health Education on the Health Attitude of Pregnant Mothers Attending Ante-natal Clinics in Anambra State, Nigeria

Maternal health education is aimed at enhancing maternal health attitude. This study was designed to determine the effect of maternal health education on the health attitude of pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics in Anambra State, Nigeria. Demographic variables of age group and location were considered in this study. Quasiexperimental pre-test, post-test, control non randomized design was used for the study. The sample consisted of 211 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in the sampled health facilities in Anambra State. Purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study. A validated Maternal Health Attitude Questionnaire (MHAQ) was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was established through Cronbach’s Alpha method which yielded 0.80. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistic of means for answering the research questions (mean difference). The null hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at .05 level of significance. The results among others showed that mothers in experimental group recorded higher mean difference health attitude scores (11.93) more than those in control group (mean = 1.23). Maternal health education had significant influence on health knowledge of pregnant mothers (P < .05). Researchers therefore concluded that maternal health education increased health knowledge of pregnant mothers. Hence, they recommended that non-governmental organizations should sponsor health education program for pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics. From time to time, the maternal health education program for antenatal mothers should be reviewed and restructured to meet up with their current health needs.