Effect of Education Program with Peer Approach on Awareness, Attitude, and Amount of Coverage for Preconception Care

Health of mothers and neonates is one of the important indicators of health promotion which determines the health status of the community and future generations. One of the interventional strategies to prevent pregnancy complications is improving the preconception care program and educate the community regarding the goals of the maternal health program. Peer group education is one of the active learning methods. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a training program with a peer-to-peer approach on awareness, attitude, and the population covered by preconception care in Rural Comprehensive Health Centers in Mobarakeh City, Iran.

In this experimental study, 140 married women with inclusion criteria under the coverage of two health houses of Rural Comprehensive Health Centers of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Fourteen women from the test village who met the inclusion criteria in the peer group but did not belong to the test group were selected and trained. First, the experimental group completed the first stage questionnaires. Then, each woman in the peer group trained 5 members of the experimental group. Two months later, the second stage questionnaires were completed. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software using independent t-test, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney test, and Wilcoxon test.

The mean scores of awareness, attitude, and coverage were not significantly different between the two groups before the intervention (P > 0.05), but in the experimental group, they were significantly higher after the intervention (P < 0.05). In the control group, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of pre- and post-intervention (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference between preconception care coverage before the intervention between two groups (P > 0.05). The coverage of preconception care in the experimental group was significantly higher after the intervention (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between preconception care coverage before and after intervention in the control group (P > 0.05).

Peer education has a positive effect on awareness, attitude, and referrals of the target group.