ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS POST-PARTUM WEIGHT GAIN AMONGST MOTHERS RECEIVING POST-NATAL SERVICES IN PUBLIC HEALTH FACILITIES IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OYO-STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy has been shown to predispose women to higher postpartum weight retention and possibly long-term overweight with long and short term consequences for both mother and the infants. Studies conducted in developed countries have implicated pregnancy-related weight gain as the most potent risk factor for postpartum weight gain. Few studies have examined and documented the role of attitude and perception of Nigerian women towards pregnancy weight gain with a view to understanding the factors that are associated with weight gain after delivery as well as identify critical areas for any intervention and/or policy advocacy. This study was therefore designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of women receiving postnatal services in health facilities in a low and medium income setting. This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design to enrol 421 post-partum women accessing post-natal services from public health care facilities in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Ibadan. A validated semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on respondents’ demographic characteristics, perception and attitude towards post-partum weight gain of mothers as well as the perceived risk factors responsible for weight gain. Overweight and obesity were defined according to 2007 WHO reference values for comparison. Data was analysed using SPSS version 18 with descriptive statistics used to summarize the data while Chi-square tests was used to achieve inferential statistics. All analysis was considered statistically significant at p-value of 0.05 or less. Results was obtained for 421 study participants with mean age of 29.55±5.65 years, and more than half (57.4%) of the respondents aged below 30 years. The average monthly income of the mothers was 21,930 Naira ($110.20 USD) with more than half of the women (248:53.7%) earning less than the minimum wage of 18,000 Naira monthly. The prevalence of post-partum overweight among the mothers was 43.5%; this was contradictory as a greater proportion of the women (77.3%) perceived their weight as normal. Post-partum overweight was also significantly higher among mothers aged over 30 years, mothers with more than three children and women who practised Christianity (P <0.05). High blood pressure was significantly associated with overweight. Mothers’ perception and attitude towards post-partum weight gain were generally poor; although more than 65% of the mothers identified consumption of fast food, a woman’s occupation, husband’s influence, income and sleeping all the time as major risk factors for post-partum weight gain among post-partum women. Findings from this study provides evidence of an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among post-partum women in Ibadan local Government area, besides, both the attitude and perceptions towards post-partum weight gain was also generally poor. There is need to integrate health promotion and education training/counselling services for post-partum mothers accessing post natal services in Nigeria.