The Effects of a Health Literacy Promotion Program on Prevention Behaviors of Iron-deficiency Anemia in Pregnant Women
Keywords:
Health Literacy, Iron Deficiency Anemia, Pregnant WomenAbstract
This two-group quasi-experimental research aimed to examine the effects of a health literacy promotion program on iron deficiency anemia prevention behavior among pregnant women. The sample consisted of 68 pregnant women attending antenatal care at Phattalung Hospital who were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group with 34 persons per group. Research instruments were: 1) a new health literacy promotion program to prevent iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women, including 6 activities, lasting 8 weeks, with group meetings at week 1st and week 8th, dividing experimental group into 3 groups with 10-12 persons per group with individual follow-up at week 4th and follow-up on application at week 7th; 2) a health literacy assessment questionnaire; and 3)a questionnaire on iron deficiency anemia prevention behavior during pregnancy. All instruments were tested for content validity with CVI of .97, .91, and .91, respectively. The questionnaires yielded Cronbach alpha coefficients of .95 and .80, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, paired t-tests, independent t-tests, and Wilcoxon signed–rank test. Research results were as follows.
1. Pregnant women who received the health literacy promotion program had a significantly higher mean score for health literacy and iron deficiency anemia prevention behavior (p-value = .001). Hematocrit levels were significantly lower (p-value = .001).
2. Pregnant women who received the health literacy promotion program had significantly higher mean scores for health literacy and iron deficiency anemia prevention behavior compared to those who did not receive the program (p-value = .05 and p-value = .001, respectively). However, Hematocrit levels of both groups were not different.
Therefore, the health literacy promotion program could enable pregnant women to gain better health literacy and adopt proper iron deficiency anemia prevention behaviors.
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1. บทความหรือข้อคิดเห็นใด ๆ ที่ปรากฏในวารสารเครือข่าย วิทยาลัยพยาบาลและการสาธารณสุขภาคใต้ ที่เป็นวรรณกรรมของผู้เขียน บรรณาธิการหรือเครือข่ายวิทยาลัยพยาบาลและวิทยาลัยการสาธารณสุขภาคใต้ ไม่จำเป็นต้องเห็นด้วย
2. บทความที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์ถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของ วารสารเครือข่ายวิทยาลัยพยาบาลและการสาธารณสุขภาคใต้
