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Investigating the Effect of Virtual Childbirth Preparation Education on the Health Practices of Pregnant Women: A Quasiexperimental Study Publisher



Tajvar M1 ; Faryadras NA2 ; Atashbahar O3 ; Ashoorkhani M4 ; Yaseri M5
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Department of Family and Population Health, Headquarters of South Tehran Health Center, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. Department of Public Health, Sirjan School of Medical Sciences, Sirjan, Iran
  4. 4. Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Source: Iranian Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion Published:2023


Abstract

Background and Objective: health practices of pregnant women affect the maternal and neonatal health and pregnancy outcomes. We aimed to determine the effect of virtual childbirth preparation education on improving the health practices of pregnant women. Materials and Methods:A quasiexperimental study was conducted in three phases on 633 pregnant women covered by health centers in the south of Tehran in 2019. Since the number of eligible individuals were close to the sample size, sampling was not done and the census method was used. In total, 310 of individuals were placed in the intervention group and 323 individuals in the control group. In the pre-test phase, the health practices of pregnant women questionnaire were completed by women in both intervention and control groups. Then women in the intervention group participated in virtual childbirth preparation education. In the post-test phase, the questionnaire was completed again by women in the 34th to 38th week of pregnancy. We used the SPSS 26 software for data analysis and the effectiveness of educational intervention was evaluated by Generalized Linear Model. Results: The mean scores of participants in the intervention group in the aspects of nutrition, special health care for pregnant women and correct pregnancy information were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.001) and the overal mean scores of health practices of pregnant women in the intervention group (90.53±9.71) were significantly higher than the control group (83.86±10.58) (P<0.001). Among the participants charactristics, nationality had an effect on the relationship between virtual education and health practices of pregnant women (P=0.03). Conclusion: virtual childbirth preparation education had a positive effect on the health practices of pregnant women. When it is not possible to hold face-to-face childbirth preparation education, virtual education is a suitable alternative. © The Author(s), 2023.