Food Craving and Aversion Among First Time Pregnant Women in Selected Health Facilities in Enugu Metropolis Enugu State

ABSTRACT This study was aimed at examining the food craving and aversion among first time pregnant women in selected health facilities in Enugu metropolis. The objectives of this study were to determine the type of food first time pregnant women crave for or have aversion to, identify their reasons for their specific food craving and aversion, determine the first time pregnant women’s awareness of the implication of food craving and aversion in pregnancy and to identify measures taken by first time pregnant women to substitute for food craving and aversion in order to meet up with their required nutritional needs. Cross sectional descriptive research design was used for this study. A sample size of 366 respondents who met the inclusion criteria were drawn from the target population of 2000 first time pregnant women using Taro Yameni’s formular. Proportional stratified sampling method was used to select a representative sample size from each randomly selected health facilities and convenience sampling technique was used to reach the respondent. Data was collected using researchers developed questionnaire with a reliability of 0.87. Data collected was analyzed with the help of International Business Machine Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistic which include frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to analyze and answer research questions. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson Chi-square; level of significance was set at P less than 0.05. The result of the study showed that majority(74.8%) of respondents crave for or averse to at least one food item and the type of food craved for were fruits. The type of food aversed to are beans based products. Majority (42.6%) of the respondents indicated that they do not know most of the effect of food craving and aversion on the health of mother and fetus. Majority (52.7%) of the first time pregnant women do nothing to substitute for food nutrients needed in pregnancy when experiencing food craving and aversion. Based on these findings, it was concluded that first time pregnancy women craved for or averse to at least one food item and majority of the first time pregnancy were not aware of the implication of food craving and aversion in pregnancy. It is recommended that health personnel/nutritionist should be encouraged to educate pregnant women especially the first time pregnant women on nutritional needs during pregnancy and should involve men in nutritional education bearing in mind of male dominance in certain culture and tradition.