Abstract
BACKGROUND: Self-care practices during pregnancy significantly influence individuals, families, and communities by fostering health, preventing illness, sustaining wellbeing, and managing health challenges, irrespective of whether there is assistance from healthcare professionals. Recognizing the importance of self-care interventions facilitates the formulation of novel and equitable strategies to enhance access to sexual and reproductive health services, which may also lead to a reduction in healthcare costs by minimizing the need for travel to medical facilities. However, studies on self-care practices during pregnancy are limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aims to assess self-care practices and associated factors among pregnant women who attended public health facilities in the town of Jimma, Oromia, Southwest Ethiopia, in 2023. METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 to 30 May 2023, on 317 study participants who were selected by simple random sampling techniques and interviewed using structured questionnaires. The data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed to summarize the data and describe the study participants. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with the outcome variable; a 95% confidence interval and a P-value of < 0.05 were taken as the cutoff points to determine whether there was a statistically significant association. Descriptive statistics were presented using figures, tables, and text. RESULTS: The findings of the current study revealed that nearly half (49.52%) of the pregnant mothers demonstrated good self-care practices. In addition, the following factors were significantly associated with the self-care practices of pregnant mothers: history of abortion (adjusted odd ratio (AOR): 0.44, 95% CI = 0.2003-0.952, P = 0.037), knowledge (AOR: 5.205, 95% CI = 2.679-10.115, P = 0.001), attitude (AOR: 6.034, 95% CI = 3.217-11.317, P = 0.002), and social support (AOR: 1.255, 95% CI = 1.668-2.36, P = 0.048). CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The findings suggested that only approximately half of the women followed good self-care practices during pregnancy. It is recommended that pregnant mothers should possess the relevant knowledge about the recommended practices to be followed and activities to be avoided during pregnancy.