The relationship between maternal health literacy with Prenatal Cares in pregnant women referring to health centers

Maternal health literacy is a key and important factor in ensuring prenatal cares, prenatal health, and the successful outcomes of this period. Due to the high significance of health literacy during pregnancy and its direct effect on fetus, the present research was conducted to determine the relationship between maternal health literacy with prenatal cares in pregnant women.

This descriptive – analytical and cross- sectional study was performed in 2017 on 130 pregnant women referred to centers and comprehensive health service bases of Bushehr city to perform prenatal care. The sample were selected by simple randomized method. Data was collected by using Maternal Health Literacy and Pregnancy Outcome Questionnaire (MHLAPQ). Data was analyzed by SPSS software (version 15) and inferential statistics, independent t test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation.

The mean score of maternal health literacy was 88.5±13.2. There was significant relationship between maternal health literacy and educational level, job, number of pregnancy (P<0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient showed significantly positive relation between health literacy with prenatal cares and pregnancy outcomes (P<0.05).

Because of the importance of health literacy in mother and newborn health and for promoting health literacy and consequently prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes it is necessary for national health authorities to develop more plans to improve health literacy and empowerment of this group.