 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Nicole L. Miller, MPH, 2720 W. Chanay St., Chicago, IL 60647 and L. Michele Issel, PhD, RN, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2035 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, (312)355-1137, issel@uic.edu.
Background:
Prenatal care provides an opportunity for pregnant women to receive health education and gain knowledge concerning self-care and infant-care behaviors. Previous research has shown that during pregnancy, women are concerned for their health and for the health of their fetus, which motivates them to learn. However, studies have noted that health education and knowledge may not lead to behavior change. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to study the relationships among three constructs: health education, knowledge, and behaviors. The results of the study will help public health professionals understand how these variables are related and how behavior can be influenced during pregnancy. Methods:
This study is an analysis of data collected during the Westside Healthy Start Evaluation. Participants were 335 African-American women who were surveyed during pregnancy. Health topics from the survey were matched and associations between them were determined by Chi Square analyses. Overall scores for health education, knowledge, and behavior were calculated and bivariate correlational analyses were conducted. Results:
Overall, a mean of 8.6 out of eleven topics were discussed with the participants. The majority of women (75.5% - 97.9%) demonstrated high knowledge of ten topics. Of the sixteen behaviors, a mean score of 10.87 was determined. Demographic variables were significantly associated with nine knowledge and eight behavior variables. Two infant-care behaviors, infant sleeping position (c2=87.0, p=.00) and breastfeeding intention (c2=45.0, p=.00), were significantly related to knowledge variables. Bivariate analyses determined that the knowledge score was correlated with the behavior score (r=.22, p=.00). Conclusions:
The study results indicate that socio-demographic variables play a role in health knowledge and behavior. Two out of three infant-care behaviors were significantly associated with knowledge. It is possible that when women have knowledge about self-care and infant-care behaviors, they are more motivated to initiate positive behaviors for the care of the baby, than for themselves. Although providers discussed health education topics with the women in the study, and women reported high knowledge of the topics, corresponding positive behaviors were not consistently reported by the participants. Focusing on providers’ educational techniques may help to promote positive behaviors during pregnancy.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Pregnancy, Health Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.