Effect of Education on Choosing Delivery Mode among Pregnant Women Referred to Health Centers of Minoodasht City: An Application of BASNEF Model

Aim: Caesarean section is dramatically increasing across the world. Pregnant women have an increasing tendency for caesarean section without acceptable medical indications. In general, 50 to 60% of childbirths in Iran are cesarean section. Despite the high complications of cesarean section, they are not caused by medical problems. Therefore, the current survey aims to screen the effect of education on choosing delivery mode based on BASNEF model.
A quasi-experimental study was done on 160 nulliparous women in the third trimester of pregnancy who were assigned randomly to the intervention (80 subjects) and control (80 samples) groups. A researcher-made questionnaire was utilized to collect the required data. Education and its content were developed according to the BASNEF model and the pregnant women's educational requirements. Numerous education methods were implemented in all target groups of intervention including pregnant women, their family and the health staffs. To analyze the data, paired and McNemar tests through SPSS version 18 were utilized. Significant level was also considered Findings: The majority of women were in the age range of 24-20 years. Only 1.2% of the women were illiterate in both groups. Knowledge, attitude, enabling factors, subjective norms and intention were significantly different between the two arms before and 2 months after the intervention (p=0.001) except for intention. In addition, in the intervention group, they get information significantly from friends, families, printed materials, educational films, educational sessions in the Health Centers, and the health personnel after the intervention (p=0.001).
Designing educational programs about delivery mode based on BASNEF model appeared to be beneficial due to the model‟s emphasis on subjective norms and enabling factors; therefore, educational programs based on change behavior model can notably decrease the unnecessary cesarean section in the country.