Effectiveness of an Electronic Health Media Program in Preventing Preterm Birth among High-Risk Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Lampang Hospital

Abstract

         This quasi-experimental study aimed to: 1) compare the mean health literacy scores of pregnant women at high risk of premature birth before and after program implementation, 2) examine the rate of continued pregnancy up to 34 weeks of gestation, and 3) assess satisfaction levels with the program. The sample comprised 50 pregnant women at 12 weeks of gestation or later who were identified as high risk for premature birth through purposive sampling Four instruments were used in this study: (1) an electronic  health media program, (2) a behavior assessment form, (3) a health literacy assessment form, and  (4)a satisfaction questionnaire. Content validity was verified by three experts. The electronic program showed a CVI of 0.80, while the other tools presented IOC values ranging from 0.67 to 1.00. The second and third tools had KR-20 reliability coefficients of 0.74 and 0.80, respectively, while the satisfaction questionnaire showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired t-test.
         The results revealed that the mean health literacy score significantly increased from 10.76 (SD = 1.51) before the program to 12.94 (SD = 1.91) after its implementation (p < .001). Additionally, 94% of the pregnancies continued up to at least 34 weeks of gestation. The average satisfaction score among participants was 4.56 (SD = 0.22). These findings suggest that the use of an electronic health media program can effectively improve health literacy and promote pregnancy continuation among high-risk pregnant women. Therefore, such programs should be encouraged as an effective intervention to enhance maternal and fetal health outcomes and support the goal of achieving full-term pregnancy (37 weeks or beyond).