Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs regarding prenatal alcohol consumption among women in Leyte, the Philippines

Alice M Huang; Matthew N Neale; Spencer C Darveau; Marianne J Sagliba; Amabelle J Moreno; Maria Paz G Urbina; Veronica Tallo; Emily A McDonald; Mario A Jiz; Jennifer F Friedman

doi:10.3389/fgwh.2023.1156681

Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs regarding prenatal alcohol consumption among women in Leyte, the Philippines

Front Glob Womens Health. 2023 Aug 9:4:1156681. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2023.1156681. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, United States.
² Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Manila, Philippines.
³ Center for International Health Research at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, United States.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objectives: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) captures the broad range of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and congenital abnormalities associated with maternal alcohol consumption, and women living in resource-limited settings may be higher risk. This study aims to examine knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs (KAPB) of women in Leyte, The Philippines regarding prenatal alcohol consumption.

Methods: One hundred postpartum women were recruited from a birth cohort in Leyte. A prenatal alcohol use KAPB survey was constructed in Waray, the local language. The survey was administered in June-September 2019. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze responses.

Results: Seventy-five percent of subjects reported drinking tuba, a local palm wine, during pregnancy. Most participants (75%) did not believe tuba contained alcohol. Women who believed tuba contains no alcohol were more likely to drink tuba during pregnancy (81.3%) than women who believed tuba contains alcohol (56.0%), X²(1, N = 100) = 6.41, p = .011. Women who drank tuba during pregnancy were more likely to believe tuba has health benefits (60%) than women who did not drink tuba during pregnancy (12%), Fisher's exact p < .05, citing increased red blood cell count and unproven antiparasitic qualities. Fifteen percent of subjects reported having fed their babies tuba. Nearly all (98%) were willing to attenuate tuba/alcohol consumption if told that this practice negatively impacts pregnancies.

Conclusion: Misinformation about tuba appears widespread in Leyte. Educating women of reproductive age in Leyte regarding prenatal tuba use may lead to a reduction in tuba use.

Keywords: FASD; KAPB; LMIC; alcohol; prenatal; tuba.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by NIH R01AA024092: Undernutrition-helminthalcohol interactions, placental mechanisms, and FASD risk; NIH K01AI113068: The impact of maternal S. japonicum infection on fetal metabolism and growth; the Benjamin H. Kean Travel Fellowship in Tropical Medicine; the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Summer Assistantship; and NIH/NIAID R25AI140490.