European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is the process of planning for normal birth and anticipating the actions needed in case of an emergency. Since child birth is an unpredictable risk producing event, providing timely and optimal medical care during obstetric complication is an option for mitigating the risk.
Objectives: The present study was designed to find out the perceptions and practices regarding BPCR at individual level and the related factors among recently delivered women registered at the Anganwadi Centers in the field practice area of Urban Health Training Centre under VSS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research at Burla in Odisha.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out during January-February-2020 where 111 recently delivered women randomly sampled from the 27 Anganwadi Centers of the township were   interviewed using pretested structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: 17 out of 41 primigravidas (41.46%) and 64 out of 70 (91.43%) multigravidas were well prepared for any obstetric complications. On Yates Chi-square application the association between gravida status and level of preparedness was found to be statistically significance (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Special emphasis must be given on counselling the pregnant women on key danger signs they may face during any phase of pregnancy, labour, post-partum period and the importance of birth preparedness during antenatal visits. The focus on primigravidas are more rewarding.