EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTENATAL PREPARATION FOR CHILDBIRTH COURSES ON THE HEALTH OF THE MOTHER AND THE NEWBORN

Since lack of awareness, fear of unknown and also lack of prenatal preparation in pregnant women increase complication of the pregnancy, labor and consequently the medical intervention, this investigation was carried out in order to assess the effectiveness of the preparation classes for pregnancy courses on decrease of complications and medical intervention in pregnant women who referred to Hedayat hospital between May 2000 and March 2001. A clinical experimental study (Sequential Randomized control trial) was carried out on 200 pregnant women expecting their first child, under 35 years of age, with gestational age of about 20 weeks and absence of hypertension, diabetes, multifetal pregnancy, smoking, habit and threatened abortion symptoms in their history. They were randomly divided to experimental & control group. Mothers in exprimental group were trained both theoretically and practically in 8 sessions, while those in control group received routine care only. Mother’s emotional and physical health during pregnancy and the collected data from labor and neonates health situations were recorded and analysed and then compared between the 2 groups. The collected data showed that back pain, pelvic pain and tiredness during pregnancy were less in trained women and their daily activities were more in comparison with non-trained women. There was not any significant difference in the quality of sleep, marriage and social relationship between the two groups. Women who attended antenatal classes had an increase in the percentage of fullterm delivery(7%), whereas the others had a higher risk of cesarean sections (16%) Moreover, duration of active labor and the second stage of it was shorter in trained women. Statistically, there were significant differences between the criteria mentioned above (P<0.04, P<0.04, P<0.002, P<0.004). The rate of prescription of oxytocin, antispasmodic drugs and sedative and also birth weight and apgar in neonates were the same in the two groups. The findings show that an increase in awareness and preparations during pregnancy help mothers to pass this important period of their life with more ease and enjoyment and less medical interventions. Hence, arranging preparation for pregnancy courses and more studies on methods of preparations for childbirth used in other countries is recommended.