ABSTRACT

Micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy are a significant public health concern worldwide particularly in low and middle income countries where dietary diversity is low, food fortification and micronutrient supplementation programs are not implemented. This study investigates the socio-demographic characteristics, health locus of control (HLOC) and micronutrient supplementation behaviour of primiparous and multiparous pregnant women in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used and data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The study revealed that majority (98.2%) of pregnant women were within the reproductive age of 18–34 years, aligning with global trends in childbearing age and maternal health outcomes. Majority (98.8%) were married, reflecting the societal norms of childbearing within marriage. (89.6%) of the respondents attained tertiary level of education, 10.4% attained secondary education, groups more likely to rely on external factors for health decisions. Income levels were predominantly low to middle with 66.3% earning less than N50, 000 and 26.4% earning N50, 000–N100,000, for health locus of control pregnant women studied exhibited higher positive ILC (0.42±0.51) which suggests that pregnant women perceive the intake of micronutrient supplements as their personal responsibility. Pregnant women studied exhibited higher positive external locus of control (0.48 ± 0.71), multiparous pregnant women exhibited higher positive external locus of control (ELC) score (0.51±0.67) compared to primiparous women (0.44± 0.78) which suggests that pregnant women studied utilized the advice from the nurses during antenatal. The result of chance locus of control (CLC) revealed that pregnant women studied exhibited higher negative chance locus of control (-1.10 ± 0.41),  primiparous pregnant women had a higher negative chance locus of control (-1.18 ± 0.45) than the multiparous pregnant women (-1.04 ± 0.37) which suggests that pregnant women studied perceived that work schedule can affect their micronutrient supplement intake which is not right. The study identified gaps in the timing of antenatal care initiation with only 47.2% of women starting care in the first trimester, the research also captured the intake of micronutrient supplement where 44.2% of pregnant women took iron supplement, 40.5% took folic acid supplement,38.0% took calcium supplement and 52.1% took multiple micronutrient supplement which indicate awareness of multiple micronutrient supplements among pregnant women finally none of the participants practiced appropriate micronutrient supplements. This research highlights the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics, HLOC dimensions, and appropriate micronutrient supplementation behaviour. For correlation  result it revealed that there was negative significant relationship between primiparous pregnant women and chance locus of control which suggests that due to no pregnancy experience, primiparous pregnant women perceive that fate or luck cannot influence their lives, there was a positive significant relationship between multiparous pregnant women and CLC score and finally there was a negative significant relationship between appropriate micronutrient supplementation and  internal locus of control, which implies that those that practiced appropriate micronutrient supplementation has lower internal health locus of control. Proper nutrition education needs to be initiated in order to create awareness about the benefits of appropriate micronutrient supplementation.