KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF CHILDLESS COUPLES TOWARDS CHILD ADOPTION IN MADONNA UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, ELELE, RIVERS STATE

The incidence of infertility is on rise in Nigeria. Adoption remains a largely under researched field. Modest success rate of Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) coupled with the lower rate of adoption encouraged the researcher to work on this study. The study was intended to determine the knowledge and attitude of childless couples towards child adoption in Madonna University Teaching Hospital, Elele, Rivers State. Four objectives guided this study. The study adopted a descriptive research design, questionnaires in addition to library research were applied in order to collect data. Primary and secondary data sources were used and data was analyzed using statistical package which was presented in frequency, tables and percentage at 95% confidence level. The respondents under the study were 80 childless couples in gynecology ward pediatric ward. The study findings revealed that there is lack of positive awareness about child adoption and its benefits in the lives of childless couples who desire to have children. Pearson correlation coefficient is 0.7 significant. Majority of the respondents were not willing to adopt a child and their main reason was that adopting a child won't allow them to fulfill their conception role as women. Knowledge of child adoption was high among the respondents but the willingness to adopt was also low. Using the above findings, there is need for clinicians to organized seminars to educate the women especially those couples who desire children but couldn't due to health issues on the need for child adoption to reduce boredom while awaiting theirs. The society needs to be sensitized to develop a positive attitude to create an enabling environment. Keywords: knowledge, attitude, childless couples, child adoption. Word count: 224 words