Relationship between health literacy and pregnancy consequences in women referring to comprehensive health service centers

Maternal health literacy is a cognitive and social skill that demonstrates women's motivation and ability to properly access, understand, and use the information to maintain the health of themselves and their children. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between health literacy and pregnancy consequences in women referring to comprehensive health service centers in Dezful. This cross-sectional study (descriptive-analytical) was performed in 2020 on 220 pregnant women referring to comprehensive health service centers in Dezful for routine pregnancy care. Subjects were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling. Data collection tools were Maternal Health Literacy and Pregnancy Consequences Questionnaire (MHLAPQ). Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software (version 16). There was a positive and significant relationship between the average score of health literacy and the mean score of pregnancy consequences including the higher level of health literacy, the lower level of the pregnancy consequences (P <0.0001, r = 0.695), and there was a positive and significant relationship between the mean average of health literacy and the average score of birth weight (<0.002). The results obtained in the study demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between maternal health literacy and prenatal care, pregnancy consequences, and birth weight, which indicates the need to pay more attention to education and increase maternal health literacy in health promotion programs.