The Effect of an Educational Intervention with Spouse’s Participation on Food Intake of Pregnant Females: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Spouses can influence their wife’s health during pregnancy. However, dietary intake comprised of high value nutrition in addition to spouses’ participation during pregnancy is an important aspect of female’s health, which has been widely neglected. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs with spouse’s participation on dietary during pregnancy. In the randomized controlled trial study, 128 nulliparous females attending Najmieh hospital based in Tehran, Iran, were randomly allocated to 2 intervention and 1 control group. In Group A, females received nutritional education with their spouses’ participation, in Group B, females received nutritional education alone, and in Group C, females received routine prenatal care, yet no guidance on dietary intake. Data was collected by completing 2 questionnaires, including demographic characteristics and the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQs). In this trial study, the mean differences of serving/day of vegetables and yogurt from the dairy range was significantly higher in group A compared to B and the control group (1.27 serving/day vegetables - group A compared to 0.81 and 0.41 serving/day vegetables in groups B and C, respectively; P < 0.001, and 0.56 serving/day of yogurt in group A versus 0.33 and 0.32 serving/day of yogurt in groups B and C, respectively, P < 0.024). The mean differences of serving/day of dairy in groups A and B were significantly higher than the control group (1.97 and 1.66 serving/day in groups A and B, respectively versus 0.81 serving/day in the group C, P = 0.003). In addition, the mean differences of serving/day for fat sources in the intervention groups were significantly lower than the control group (2.58 and 1.18 serving/day in groups A and B, respectively versus 0.38 serving/day in the group C, P = 0.035). The findings found improvement in intervention group A with intake of vegetables and yoghurt as dairy sources compared to Group B. In addition, their mean differences of dairy source was higher than Group C, while serving of fat sources was lower in both groups compared to the control group