Nagwa Abdel Fadeel A Afefy (Poster 3)
King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, KSA
Title: Impact of an educational session about gestational weight gain on Saudi pregnant women’s knowledge and perception
Biography
Biography: Nagwa Abdel Fadeel A Afefy (Poster 3)
Abstract
Background: Weight gains during pregnancy have an important health implication on pregnancy outcomes.
Aim: The aim of the current study was to assess the impact of gestational weight gain educational session on pregnant women’s knowledge and perception.
Methods: A quasi experimental design was used to conduct the study. A convenient sample of 100 Saudi pregnant women who attended Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinic at King Fahad Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs/Riyadh (KAMC-MNGHA) were recruited. Data was collected by using self-administered close ended questionnaire which consisted of four parts: (1) Socio-demographic characteristics, (2) obstetrical history, (3) knowledge assessment (pre-post assessment) and (4) perception assessment (pre-post assessment). The educational session lasted for 20-25 minutes.
Result: There was a significant improvement in the total knowledge score before and after educational session about pregnancy weight gain including (pregnancy weight gain, risk of over weight gain during pregnancy and risk of less weight gain during pregnancy) (P=0.000 for each), as 72% of the subjects had poor knowledge pretest compared to 91% had good knowledge post-test. Also, there was significant differences in total perception score before and after the session (p=0.000). About two third (64%) had fair perception pretest compared to 69% had good perception post-test. However, there were no significant differences in the knowledge mean score of the pregnant women across their socio-demographic variables and selected obstetrical variables.
Conclusion: Pregnant women have poor knowledge about proper weight gain and its impact on pregnancy outcome. Bridging this knowledge gap is an important step towards improving perinatal outcomes, especially those who enter pregnancy overweight or underweight. The educational session has an impact on improving pregnant women’s knowledge and perception about proper weight gain during pregnancy.