ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR OF PREGNANT-WOMEN AND HEALTH-PROFESSIONALS TOWARDS ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO CONSUMPTION

The objective of this study was to identify those factors that influen ce pregnant women's behavior towards alcohol consumption, so that they could be taken into account when developing alcohol prevention progra ms in prenatal care. Tobacco use was also studied to identify similari ties and differences in attitudes and behavior. A sample of 176 women was interviewed using a structured questionnaire in the prenatal clini cs or post-partum wards. Most women were aware that alcohol and tobacc o could be harmful to their babies; however heavy drinkers recognized the influence of alcohol in pregnancy less often than the others. Sixt y percent of the women, even among the light drinkers, thought that tw o drinks per day was a reasonable level of consumption during pregnanc y. When asked who could be helpful in decreasing their alcohol consump tion, most women mentioned their husband, and the doctor or midwife. T his is in contrast to our finding that less than 20% of heavy drinkers were advised to reduce alcohol consumption, as compared to 70% of hea vy smokers. The results point to the potential for more active interve ntions on alcohol reduction by health personnel during prenatal care.