Knowledge and Performance of Pregnant Women Referred to Obstetrics Clinics in Kerman and the Significance of Prenatal Cares

The preventive medicine is the most rapid way for health establishment in the society and can be carried out through upgrading the knowledge level of the citizens including mothers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and performance of pregnant women referred to the obstetrics clinics of Kerman regarding the execution of intra-conception cares on 700 pregnant women. The descriptive and cross-sectional strategy of this study was performed on 700 pregnant women selected through random and cluster sampling with regard to population density. They had an average age of25.7 ± 3.8 years, a period of 19.7 ± 3.8 passed from their marriage, the knowledge level as 8.1 ± 4.8, number of pregnm1cies as 2.5± 1.8, and pregnancy period as 39 ± 1.4 weeks. In 91.4% of them, the pregnancy-induced hypertension was controlled, whereas 67% of them had received tetanus vaccine. Meanwhile, 95.5% of them affirmed complete blood test as necessary during pregnancy, but only 13 .6% had information for this fact that diabetics could not have consecutive pregnancies as normal persons. In addition, a significant difference was observed between the level of knowledge and performance. Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the knowledge and age, occupation, number of conceptions, performance, and the age at the time of marriage. Considering results, it can be concluded that knowledge and performance is not sufficient during the pregnancy and it is necessary for health professionals to train more skills in this respect.