The Effects of Pre-marriage Education and Consultation on Knowledge and Attitude of Couples Regarding to Reproductive Health

Couples need to attain appropriate and exact information about various aspects of reproductive health in initiation of joint life. The aim of this study was to determine of effect of pre-marriage education and consultation on knowledge and attitude of couples regarding reproductive health. This quasi-experimental study was done on 250 couples participating in pre-marriage counseling classes in Zabol's Health Counseling Center in 2010. The sampling was performed by simple non-randomized method. The instrument for data collecting was a questionnaire consisting of 3 sections: demographic information, knowledge questions and attitude questions. This education plan was conducted by health professionals presented in the from of lecture regarding reproductive health. Then data were then analyzed by SPSS software and descriptive statistics such as pair T-Test, one-way variance analysis, independent T-Test and X2. Mean age of the participants was 21.78+3.89 years. Mean score of the participant's knowledge before presenting education was 5.85+ 2.44 which increased to 8.92+ 2.87 after education (p< 0.05). Mean score of attitude before education was 10.25+1.75 which increased to 11.12+1.71 after education (p< 0.05).The results also showed that the difference of mean of knowledge and attitude before and after intervention with variables such as sex job, and educational level was statistically significant(p< 0.05). Although pre-marriage education and consulting plan affects on knowledge and attitude of couples but this plan needs to be revised basically and the most important principle in quality promotion of this plans is selection of a comprehensive educational content based on educational need assessment and prime difficulties of couples in pre-marriage and dedication of more time for these classes.