THE EFFECT OF NEED-BASED EDUCATION ON WOMEN'S SELF-EFFICACY IN PRENATAL CARE

Pregnancy is an important stage in a womanchr('39')s life that leads to significant physical, psychological, and social changes. Hence, strengthening pregnant mothers seems vital to cope with these changes. The present study is carried out to determine the effect of training on pregnant womanchr('39')s self - efficacy.

This study is semi-experimental with the control group. 123 pregnant women referring to the urban centers of comprehensive health services in Kashmar city were randomly assigned into two groups of control and intervention (64 intervention and 59 control). Intervention trainings were held in 8 sessions based on the results of the needs assessment checklist for the intervention group and common delivery preparation classes were held for the control group. Questionnaires were completed before and after the intervention by both intervention and control groups. The data collection tools consisted of the form of demographic characteristics and a researcher-made self-efficacy questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the tools were confirmed. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 16 using the Kolmogorov - Smirnov test, an independent t – test, and the covariance analysis test. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

In this study, there was no statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of self-efficacy score of pregnant women before the intervention (p-value >0.05). But after the intervention, a statistically significant difference was observed in the mean score of self-efficacy in the intervention group (p-value <0.05)

The study revealed that training based on motherchr('39')s needs can increase the score of self - efficacy in comparison to the routine training classes. Therefore, it is suggested to use this training approach in pregnancy preparation classes.