Original Research

Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to healthy childbearing in the West Coast / Winelands

LC Maart
Curationis | Vol 31, No 2 | a974 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v31i2.974 | © 2008 LC Maart | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 28 September 2008 | Published: 28 September 2008

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LC Maart,, South Africa

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Abstract

Many of the known risk factors associated with low birth weight (LB W) infants, such as socio-economic status, ethnicity, genetic makeup, and obstetric history, are not within a woman’s immediate control. However, there are many things that a woman can do to improve her chances of having a normal healthy child. Lifestyle behaviours, such as cigarette smoking, nutrition and the use of alcohol, play an important role in determining the growth of the foetus. There is a high rate of low birth weight infants bom to women living and working on the farms in the Western Cape. Very little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the women living and working on the farms that may be influencing their pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this qualitative exploratory study was to establish the knowledge, attitudes and practices of reproductive age women related to lifestyle factors such as alcohol use, smoking and nutrition, and the perceptions of these factors by health care workers, in Stellenbosch and Vredendal areas (small towns in the Western Cape).

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