FERTILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PREGNANT WOMEN FREQUENCY OF TAKING ANTENATAL CARE

Abstract

This research was conducted to evaluate the fertility characteristics of pregnant women admitted to hospital for antenatal care and the frequency of receiving antenatal care. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 873 pregnant women.The data of the study on sociodemographic and prenatal care and influencing factors were obtained using the data collection form developed by the researcher based on the literature information,by face-to-face interview technique.The data were evaluated using SPSS for Windows 17.5 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) package program.Percentage distribution and chi-square test were used to analyze the data. Results: In this study, 14.9% of the pregnant women reported that they did not receive any antenatal care services from the specialist doctor and 22.6% of the pregnant women reported that they did not receive any antenatal care services from the midwife/nurse. 47.7% of those who did not receive service stated that they could not receive regular antenatal care because they did not know that theys hould receive prenatal care.36.9% of those who did not receive service stated not receive regular antenatal care due to economic reasons, 3.8% because their spouse or mother-in-law did not allow them. Inaddition, 4.6% of those who did not receive service stated that they could not receive regular prenatal care on the grounds that they were seasonal agricultural workers/ nomads.77.4% of the pregnant women who received antenatalcare service stated that they applied to the nurse/ midwife working in the Family Health Center (FHC) close to their home for care. Conclusion: In our study, rates of prenatal carewere not found sufficient. Prenatal care is the follow-up of the mother and fetus by a health care professional, by making necessary examinations and making recommendations at regular intervals through out the pregnancy.Therefore, prenatal and postnatal monitoring are issues that should be given priority.