J Korean Soc Matern Child Health.  2018 Sep;22(3):172-179. 10.21896/jksmch.2018.22.3.172.

Gender-based Comparison of Knowledge on Preconception Care

Affiliations
  • 1Ewha Medical Research Institute, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. eunheeha@ewha.ac.kr
  • 2Global Health Institute for Girls, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of medicine Konkuk University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 4Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 6Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 7Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 8The Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 9Department of Laboratory Medicine, Cheil General Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center, Dankook University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 10Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cheil General Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center, Dankook University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There have been many voices highlighting the necessity of preconception care as a preventive approach to achieve better pregnancy outcomes for health promotion of mothers and babies. It is important to get preconception care for both men and women, as they play equally important roles for healthy pregnancy. Also, awareness and knowledge of men and women about their health are important factors for behavioral changes for preconception care. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the level of awareness about men and women's preconception care and knowledge of the determinants of healthy pregnancy by gender. Our second goal was to compare men and women's level of awareness and knowledge on it.
METHODS
The participants were 500 males and females (aged over 19 years and under 49 years old) either living or working in Seoul city. The data collection period of the study was from July to December, 2017. An online survey was conducted using a panel of online vendors. Then the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0.
RESULTS
Awareness about both men and women's preconception care was significantly higher in women than in men (p=0.004, p=0.002). Furthermore, there was a significant difference between men and women (p=0.00) in the total score of knowledge on the determinants of preconception care, including smoking, alcohol drinking, age, folic acid intake, and check-up for infectious disease (p=0.00; means women 8.20±1.95 and men 7.27±2.38). Significant gender differences were also found on some items, such as men's alcohol drinking, men's age, men's check-up for infectious disease, women's intake of folic acid, women's check-up for infectious disease. The level of knowledge on men's folic acid intake was the lowest in both men and women.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results on the analysis of gender differences in the awareness and knowledge about preconception care, it is necessary to develop and implement preconception care programs based on the gender perspective approach to make women and men equally share responsibility of the birth result.

Keyword

preconception care; preconception health; pregnancy; knowledge; gender

MeSH Terms

Alcohol Drinking
Commerce
Communicable Diseases
Data Collection
Female
Folic Acid
Health Promotion
Humans
Male
Mothers
Parturition
Preconception Care*
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Outcome
Seoul
Smoke
Smoking
Voice
Folic Acid
Smoke
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