The Knowledge and Acceptance of Antenatal Classes in Saudi Arabia

Background: Antenatal means the period of pregnancy from conception to childbirth. Ante natal classes are sessions designed to give a pregnant female and her husband information about pregnancy, delivery and caring for herself and her newborn after birth. These classes can help improve antenatal care. Methods: A cross sectional study done via online forms using convenience sampling. All married adults above age of 15 with at least 1 child born in Saudi Arabia were included in the study. The sample size was 700. Results: 70%of participants said they did not know about antenatal classes and 94% said they had not attended any antenatal classes before. There was no correlation between age at first pregnancy and knowledge about antenatal care however there was significant association (p=.001) between low knowledge of antenatal events and fear and adverse outcome during first pregnancy. 75% of participants said they would attend antenatal classes if it was available. Major sources of knowledge about these events were mothers, friends or internet. Conclusion and Recommendation: Our results show that most of the knowledge women gain about care during antenatal period is not from a medical source but rather from mothers, relatives or internet. So, we would like to recommend to the ministry of health and concerned authorities and stakeholders to plan and implement antenatal classes and health education sessions for women during their routine antenatal visits.