Effect of educational package on nulliparous mother's knowledge and belief about postpartum lifestyle

Lack of awareness and the False beliefs about postpartum care may lead to maternal and child health problems. Thus, changing them through effective training methods should be considered as a priority. This survey was conducted to evaluate the effect of educational package on nulliparous mother’s Knowledge and belief about postpartum lifestyle. This randomized clinical trial was carried out on 220 nulliparous women in the postpartum ward in Tabriz, in 2013. The subjects were allocated into two groups using block randomization method. Intervention group received face to face education, telephone counseling, booklets and educational SMS and control group received postpartum Ward’s routine educations. Questionnaires of Knowledge and belief about postpartum lifestyle were completed by mothers at the first (or second) day after delivery and then 42 days later. Data was analyzed by SPSS-18, Independent t-test, Fisher's exact test, chi-square, chi-square for trends and ANCOVA. P<0.05 was considered significant. There were no significant statistic differences in terms of demographic characteristics and also pre-intervention lifestyle knowledge and belief scores between two groups (P>0.05). With adjusting pre-intervention knowledge and belief score, the mean scores of knowledge [adjusted mean difference 17.2, (CI: 95%: 20.2 to 14.3)] (p<0.001) and beliefs [28.7 (32.2 to 25.2)] (p<0.001) among the intervention group was significantly higher than those in control group. This study demonstrated the positive effectiveness of simultaneous use of simple and practical training techniques without financial burdens to promote nulliparous mother’s knowledge and belief about postpartum lifestyle. Yet, we cannot draw conclusions about which method is most effective, therefore more research is needed in this field.