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Expectant mothers’ perception of prenatal sonography in a South‑Eastern population in Nigeria


A.C. Ugwu
H.C. Elugwu
O.A. Onyegbule

Abstract

Background: Prenatal sonography is very important for quality patient management and effective service delivery in diagnostic radiology during the antenatal period.

Aim: The study was conducted to assess the perception of pregnant women to prenatal sonography and to investigate the factors affecting maternal satisfaction to prenatal sonography in some tertiary institutions in south‑eastern Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: The study was a cross‑sectional study that involved 150 patients. It was conducted by administering semi‑structured questionnaires. The questionnaire contained a total of 17 questions consisting of 16 close‑ended questions and 1 open‑ended question. The respondents were pregnant women who presented for obstetric sonography in Federal Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centers in south‑eastern Nigeria. The data were analyzed descriptively using frequency tables and percentages.

Results: There was a high indication of clinical use of obstetric ultrasound such as the health and well‑being of the foetus (35.3%), foetal age determination, and the expected date of delivery (24.7%). Most respondents (84.6%) perceived prenatal sonography as being necessary, and 66.7% of the patients considered the result of obstetric sonography to be reliable. Majority of the respondents (88.7%) considered the services rendered during their sonographic scan to be satisfactory.

Conclusion: Most of the women perceived prenatal sonography as necessary and reliable. The services rendered during sonography were also considered satisfactory by most women; however, most pregnant women did not know about diagnostic ultrasound safety during the prenatal period.

Keywords: Maternal; perception; prenatal; sonography


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eISSN: 0189-5117