title: Knowledge, attitude, and practices of pregnant women towards antenatal care in primary healthcare centers in Benghazi, Libya.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many underlying factors influence the capacity of women to survive from complications emerging during pregnancy and childbirth, including women's health and nutritional status starting from childhood and during pregnancy. Also, women's access to and the use of appropriate health services according to their knowledge, attitude, and behavior during pregnancy. This study was designed to assess the knowledge, the attitude, and practices of pregnant women toward antenatal care in primary healthcare centers in Benghazi, Libya.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 300 pregnant women, who were chosen from three primary healthcare centers with the highest attendance rate of pregnant women in Benghazi, Libya, using a structured interview questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest percentage (85.3%) of pregnant women had a high knowledge score regarding antenatal care, and most of them (96.0%) showed a positive attitude; the highest percentage (76.4%) of pregnant women also had good practice scores.The level of overall knowledge had a significant direct correlation with the practices towards antenatal care (r=0.228, P≤0.001), whereas it had an insignificant correlation with the attitude (r=0.029, P=0.619).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of the participants of the study tended to have a high level of knowledge and practices. Also, most of them had a positive attitude towards antenatal care. These findings can be used to plan a customized health intervention program aiming to improve maternal health practices regarding antenatal care and eventually improve the health status of Libyan women.
authors.affiliation: Departments of aFamily Health bHealth Administration and Behavioural Sciences, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt cDepartment of Public Health, Medical Arab University, Benghazi, Libya.
authors.forename: Hala K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Mohamed D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: El Borgy
authors.forename: Huda O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Mohammed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008002:Libya / Q000453:epidemiology; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D055815:Young Adult