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Dietary intake knowledge and reasons for food restriction during pregnancy among pregnant women attending primary health care centers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

ristics which included respondents’ age, marital status, level of education, occupation, family struc-
ture (whether monogamy or polygamy), average monthly income (given in naira [₦], which is the
Nigerian currency), and number of children. The instrument contained a 30-point knowledge scale
that covered 10 knowledge items, focusing on various dietary related issues that included how to eat
during pregnancy, classes of food (with examples) supposed to be taken during pregnancy, and the
roles of each of the classes of food. The instrument also contained items or questions relating to rea-
sons or factors responsible for food avoidance or restriction during pregnancy as well as lists of
foods that were restricted or avoided based on each specific factor or reason. The questionnaire
was constructed in the English language and translated into Yoruba by a linguistic expert who was
vast in both languages for easy communication with respondents consisting of illiterate and
semi-illiterate population. The Yoruba version of the instrument was back-translated into English by
another language expert to ascertain the accuracy of the translation.

2.4 Data Collection Process

Copies of the semi-structured questionnaire were administered with the help of four female research
assistants who were trained thoroughly to ensure that they had adequate understanding of the in-
strument prior to commencement of data collection. Permission was sought from appropriate author-
ities including PHC coordinators and heads of health facilities. Pregnant women attending the clinics
were approached and their consents were sought prior to the commencement of the interviews. The
respondents were interviewed with copies of the questionnaire either in Yoruba or English, depend-
ing on respondents’ preference and language spoken or understood.
All copies of the questionnaires were checked for completeness and a serial number was given to
each for easy identification and recall. A coding guide was developed based on the variables and
responses teased out from the questionnaires. This coding code was used to facilitate data entry into
a computer. Based on the 30-point knowledge scale, scores of ≤10, >10–20, and >20 were catego-
rized as poor, fair, and good knowledge respectively. Data collection was carried out in all the 35
PHC centers in the study sites over a period of eight weeks.

2.5 Analytical Strategies
SPSS software version 20 was used to facilitate data analysis. Descriptive statistics, frequency counts,
and percentages were used for analysis of univariate data. Bivariate analyses of test of associa-
tions between independent and dependent variables were subjected to chi-square tests at 0.05 level
of significance. For this purpose, dependent and independent variables were presented as categorical
data. Dependent variables that were considered were dietary intake knowledge and practice of re-
striction or avoidance of food based on cultural taboos. Each of these dependent variables was cal-
culated and tabulated by relevant independent variables such as respondents’ age, level of education,
occupation, monthly income, religion, and number of children. Results obtained from the data were
summarized in text and where necessary, tables and charts were also presented.
3. Results

3.1 Socio-demographic Characteristics of Respondents

The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table 1. The respondents’
ages ranged from 14–53 years old with a mean of 27 ± 5.3 years. The respondents also had a mean
of 2.0 ± 1.3 children. Most (90.8%) women were married and 91.1% of them have a monogamous
family. A large proportion (44.5%) of the respondents had tertiary education. Three-quarter (75.0%)
of the respondents’ were Christians and 88.0% were Yorubas. Very few (4.6%) of the respondents’
had no income and only 11.1% earned above ₦50,000 (approximately US$315).

106 International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 1