Information on the prevention of folic acid use in preconceptional period of pregnancy and related factors

In this study, it was aimed to determine the prevalence, knowledge and related factors of folic acid use in the preconceptional period of pregnant women. The sample of this cross-sectional study consists of 384 pregnant women. The research data were collected by the researchers through face-to-face interviews using the "Introduction and Evaluation Form" and "Questions Form on the Prevalence and Knowledge of Folic Acid Supplement Use". The analysis of the obtained data was made using the SPSS 22.0 program. Differences between the ratios of categorical variables in independent groups were analyzed with Chi-square and Fisher exact tests. T-test, one-way analysis of variance (Anova) and Post hoc (Tukey, LSD) analyzes were used to examine the differences in knowledge levels of pregnant women according to their descriptive characteristics. In this study, 70.3% of pregnant women took folic acid supplements. The mean total knowledge of the pregnant women participating in the study was found to be 4.120±2.654 (Min-Max=0-10). A significant relationship was found between age, education level, occupation, income level, family type and place of residence and folic acid knowledge level (p<0.05). A significant correlation was found between obstetric characteristics of pregnant women, gravida, number of births, number of living children and folic acid knowledge level (p<0.05). There is a significant relationship between taking pre-pregnancy care, taking folic acid supplement, being recommended folic acid supplement during pregnancy, duration of taking folic acid supplementation and folic acid knowledge level (p<0.05). In this research, taking folic acid; it was determined that there was a significant relationship between education, occupation, family type, planned pregnancy, receiving pre-pregnancy care, who received pre-pregnancy care, getting information about folic acid (p<0.05).