Examination of Preconception Care Awareness and Knowledge of Couples Preparing for Marriage: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to examine the preconception care awareness and knowledge of couples preparing for marriage.

The sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 240 engaged couples who applied for marriage to the marriage directorate of a central district municipality in the Mediterranean Region of Türkiye. The researchers collected the data through face-to-face interviews using the "Personal Information Form" and "Preconception Care Awareness and Information Form."

While 71.7% of women and 45.4% of men are 25 years old and below, 76.3% of women and 64.6% of men have a high school education or above. It was reported that 54.2% of women and 56.3% of men planned to have children immediately or 1 year after marriage. It was found that 8.8% of women and 4.2% of men had heard of the concept of preconception care, and there was a significant difference between women and men in terms of hearing the concept of preconception care (p < 0.05). The mean preconception care knowledge score of the participants was 59.26 ± 31.85 (possible scores are between 0 and 100). In this study, gender, educational status, occupation, presence of a disease that may affect health during pregnancy, presence of a genetic disease in the family, and planned time to have a child after marriage were determined as factors affecting knowledge of preconception care.

In this study, the rate of hearing the concept of preconception care among couples preparing for marriage is quite low, while their knowledge regarding its content and benefits is at an intermediate level. It is important to increase the awareness of preconception care in couples preparing for marriage and to eliminate the information gap.