Effectiveness of a motivational interviewing session to enhance self-efficacy of pregnant women in response to air pollution preventive behaviors: a randomized trial

Objective (s): Self-efficacy is an important construct within many health education theories and models and is defined as one’s beliefs in his/her own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a motivational interviewing session on self-efficacy of pregnant women in response to air pollution hazards. In this experimental study, 110 eligible pregnant women attending to prenatal clinics in 2012 in Tehran, Iran were randomly selected and randomized into intervention (55) and control group (51) who did not receive any intervention. The inclusion criteria were age between 18 and 35 years, having a normal pregnancy, not having a history of chronic disease and being satisfied to participate in the study. The women were excluded from the study if their pregnancies were complicated. Data were collected at baseline and 1-month follow up through demographic questionnaire and a designed valid measure including items on self-efficacy regarding air pollution preventive behaviors. Data were analyzed via t-test, Mann Whitney U test Wilcoxon and Chi-squre. In all, data for 104 pregnant women including 53 individuals in the intervention group and 51 ones in control group were analyzed. The mean age of women was 27.2 (±4.11) years and it was 22.89 (±8.75) for gestational age. Although before the intervention, both groups were the same in terms of demographic variables and the outcome measure, after the intervention, the mean ranks of self-efficacy were significantly better than the control group (P<0.0001). The study findings revealed that the designed educational intervention could improve the self-efficacy of pregnant women regarding air pollution preventive behaviors.