The Effect of Health Literacy Development Program among Primigravida on COVID-19 Prevention Behavior

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research aimed to examine the effect of health literacy development program among primigravida on COVID-19 prevention behavior. The participants consisted of 60 primigravida who received the antenatal care at Phrapokklao Hospital, Chanthaburi Province and were divided into the experimental group (n = 30) and the control group (n = 30). The research instruments were composed of the health literacy development program, the personal questionnaire, the health literacy questionnaire with reliability of .96, and the COVID-19 prevention behavior questionnaire with reliability of .71. The implementation and data collection were conducted from February to October, 2022. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, paired t-test, and independent t-test.

The research results revealed that 1) after the experiment, the experimental group had statistically significantly higher mean score of health literacy than that of before the experiment and that of the control group (t = 3.260, p < .01 and t = 2.190, p < .05, respectively); 2) after the experiment, the experimental group had statistically significantly higher mean score of COVID-19 prevention behavior than that of before the experiment and that of the control group (t = 3.400, p < .05 and t = 2.340, p < .05, respectively); and 3) after the experiment, the experimental group had got COVID-19 vaccine more than the control group.

This research suggests that antenatal nurses should apply this health literacy development program in health education for primigravida in order to promote appropriate COVID-19 prevention behavior and enhance COVID-19 vaccination rate.