Effectiveness of Enhancing Self-Health Care Behavior Program of teenage pregnant women, Samut Sakhon Hospital

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy is a crisis change in the life. This may have consequences for both the pregnant woman and her unborn child. Encouraging teenage pregnant women to take care of their own health are important for them to perform their roles as mothers successfully.

This quasi-experimental study was aimed to examine the effect of a health promotion program for teenage pregnant women. The sample group consisted of 40 people. They were divided into experimental and control groups. Inclusion criteria were the teenage pregnancy aged not over 19 years, gestational age between 14-28 weeks. The control group received normal nursing care; the experimental group received the Self-Health Care Behavior Program developed from Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Data were collected using a personal record form and questionnaire on health promoting behaviors of teenage pregnant, which has been checked for content validity by three qualified persons, the value of IOC was 0.66. Reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.80. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics; comparing the mean scores of self-care behaviors before and after the experiment of the experimental group by Paired Sample t-test; comparing the mean scores of health behaviors after the experiment of the experimental group and control group with Independent Sample t-test.

The results showed that the experimental group had average scores on health behaviors in each aspect, such as nutritional status, physical activity, health responsibility, interpersonal relationship, stress management, spiritual development, and the total score on health behaviors statistically significantly higher than before the experiment (p<0.05). After the experiment, the experimental group had average scores on health behaviors in each aspect such as nutritional status, physical activity, health responsibility, interpersonal relationship, stress management and spiritual development The total score on health behaviors in the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05)

Recommendations: A Self-Health Care Behavior Program for teenage pregnancy should be used to promote the health for teenage pregnancy who are prone to health problems during pregnancy.