Improving the quality of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through pre-service training, research, and evidence-based clinical care delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care Clinic Regarding the Use of Lactation Amenorrhea Method at a tertiary teaching hospital in Uganda.

Authors
Yakobo Nsubuga1*, Jerom Okot1, Robert Kyomuhendo1, Steven Baguma2, Felix Bongomin1, Pebalo Francis Pebolo1
Affiliations
1 Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda.
2 Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Gulu, Uganda
Abstract
Background: pregnancies. Several reasons have been put in place for ineffective contraception used to prevent these pregnancies, including difficulty in obtaining contraceptives. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of mothers attending Antenatal Care (ANC) at a tertiary hospital in northern Uganda, regarding the use of LAM as a family planning method during the postpartum period.
Methods
A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at the ANC in a tertiary hospital in northern Uganda. Participants were enrolled using a simple random sampling method. A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data was cleaned and coded in Microsoft excel and later imported to STATA version 18.0 (STATA, college station, Texas, USA) for analysis.
Results:
We enrolled 384 participants for the study, more than a third were between 21- 25 years old (35.2%, n=135). About (12.8, n=49) strongly agree that LAM as a risky method of birth control. Nearly half of the participants (47.1%, n=172) reported having ever used the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) as a method of contraception. A majority 69.8% (n=268) had a favorable attitude whereas 30.2% (n=116) had an unfavorable attitude towards LAM. Among the participants, 25.5% (n=98) had poor knowledge of LAM, while 74.5% (n=286) had good knowledge. In the age group of 18–20 years, 31.6% (n=31) had poor knowledge, and 22.0% (n=59) had a favorable attitude
Conclusion
Our study reported participants had good knowledge level and favorable attitude. The factors associated with knowledge included not starting breastfeeding in the first hour, favorable attitude while for attitude towards LAM included not starting breastfeeding in the first hour.