Effectiveness of an Education Program on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Pregnant Women with Premature Labour

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a new health education program on knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women with preterm labor. It was conducted as a one group, pretest-posttest design. All pregnant women with the sign of preterm labor were recruited. They received individual health education together with their husband and relavites who involved in the provision of care. Data on knowledge and practice were collected at the beginning of the process and before discharge. The data were analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. The results of the study revealed that there was no difference on knowledge and practice between the new and old forms of health education in pregnant women (p>0.05). However, significant difference on the attitude among the pregnant women was observed ((p<0.05). There were weaknesses identified which included the heavy contents of the education program of which the topics were not included in the questionnaire. Too many medical terms used in the questionnaire were not understandable by the pregnant women. In addition, it was difficult to make judgement on the 5-level Likert scale, not to mention that the women were under stressful circumstance at one day post-delivery. The author recommended that another study be conducted by using proper education manual that contained less medical terms and more local language. It is expected that the use of appropriate health education program for pregnant women and their families would improve knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women in order to prevent miscarriage.