Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0420
ISSN: 2167-0420
Aveen Haji Mam
De Montfort University, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Womens Health Care
Maternal obesity is associated with health risks for mother and new-born. Obesity during pregnancy has increased dramatically in Iraqi Kurdistan. Group antenatal education for obese women may have a positive influence on maternal/ child outcomes. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of an antenatal education programme for obese women on pregnancy outcomes and obese women�s perceived benefits of the programme. Ethical approval was obtained from a Research Ethics Committee. 293 women from three health centres in Kurdistan Iraq were recruited. Obese women (BMI�30) were randomised to one of two groups; women who took part in an antenatal education programme (intervention group) (n=93), and women who did not take part in the intervention (control group) (n=96). A baseline group of normal weight women (20-24.99) were also recruited and received no intervention (n=99). This paper presented the quantitative results of the study. Data was collected at recruitment to the study (before 20 weeks gestation) and following childbirth (focusing on pregnancy outcomes). SPSS 22 was used to analyse the data using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that obese women were older and of higher parity than baseline group. There was no statistically significant difference among the three groups regarding pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational age at onset of labour and labour/neonatal outcomes. However the prevalence of gestational diabetes was reduced among those obese women who received the educational programme. Factors which might have affected the results of this study was the low attendance rate among women who were randomised to receive the education programme, parity differences between groups and sociocultural factors.
Email: aveen4581@yahoo.com