Perception of Pregnant Women Regarding Neonatal Jaundice

Background: Jaundice is a clinical condition in the newborn that requires medical attention and most common cause of admission in the 1st week of life in neonatal intensive care unit. Objective: This study aimed to assess the perception of pregnant women by their knowledge and attitude regarding neonatal jaundice. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 1stJanuary 2021 to 31st December 2021 on 270 pregnant women, who were selected by purposive sampling from Pirganj upazilla Health complex and selected community clinics at Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews through a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS. Results: The findings of the study indicate that the mean age of the participants ware 24.71(±3.6) years. Among the participants 69.6% (188) of pregnant women had moderate knowledge, 24.4% (66) had good knowledge and 5.9% (16) had poor knowledge. 48.5% (131) of pregnant women had moderate attitude, 47% (127) good attitude and 4.4% (12) had poor attitude regarding neonatal jaundice. Most of the pregnant women had lack of knowledge about treatments and preventive measures of neonatal jaundice. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that there was a need for increasing the awareness of mothers on all aspects of neonatal jaundice such as causes, side effects, prevention and emergency referral to doctors to prevent irreversible complications.