الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 178 |  |  |
| | | from | 178 | | |
Abstract
Anemia remains a major public-health problem, affecting about a quarter of the world’s population. Its adverse health consequences affect people with varied degrees and affect all age-groups, particularly women of childbearing age and children. Anemia can affect anyone, but pregnant women are at risk group for this condition. So, that the complication of preterm and low birth weight increased in pregnancy anemia. Dietary advice and iron supplementation is important for those women to maintain optimal health for mothers and their newborns.
The aim of the study was to provide a nutritional health educational program for anemic pregnant women and identify its impact on their pregnancy outcome at Sohag city. The main objectives of the present
study were determine the magnitude of anemia during pregnancy, assess
pregnant women’s knowledge and practices about nutritional health habits during pregnancy, design an educational program based on previously assessed knowledge practice, implement the educational program and evaluate the impact of the educational program on pregnancy outcome.
The sample of the study consisted of 150 anemic pregnant women
who were attending at the maternal and child health center at Sohag
city which fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Follow up women
started from 4th month until delivery then the newborn physical condition
was assessed.
A Pilot study was carried out to test the developed tools for clarity
and estimating the length of time needed to fill in the sheets. The
necessary modifications were done, and the final forms were developed.
Three tools were used for data collection:-
1- A structured interview questionnaire: it comprised four parts as
follows:
Part 1: It was concerned with socio-demographic characteristics of
pregnant women as age, marital status, level of education, etc.
Part 2: It included data about the past, present and obstetrical history.
Part 3: It dealt with the information of pregnant women about anemia
during pregnancy.
Part 4: It included nutritional health habits and practice of pregnant women.
2-Assessment Sheet:
It was divided into two parts to assess the condition of pregnant
women during antenatal and postnatal periods.
Part 1: It was concerned with assessing weight, height, and calculates the body mass index and hemoglobin level of pregnant women.
Part 2: It was concerned with the assessment of newborn length, weight and newborn condition.
3- Health Education Program:
An educational program was developed for the study group of anemic pregnant women
The study revealed the following main findings:
• The highest percentages of both groups, their age ranged between
20 - <40 years old.
• As regards mothers’ education, 41.3% of the study group and
45.3% of the control group had secondary education and most of both groups were working (64.0% and 50.7% respectively). No statistically significant differences were found between both groups (p> 0.05).
• Concerning the social class, more than three quarter of women in the study group 86.7% and 80.0% in control group belonged to moderate social class.
• Concerning the past medical history of women, 28.0% of the
study group and 25.3% of control group have a past history of
iron deficiency anemia.
• About 92.0% in study group had regular menstruation cycle vs. 88.0% in control group. About half of women in study 41.3% and 44.0% in control groups their duration of menstruation were between 2-4 days, and about another half in both groups (56.0%, 52%) study and control groups have duration between 5-7 days with no statistically significance difference (P>0.05) between the two groups.
• Regarding to the history of previous pregnancy, 68% of study
group and 62.7% of the control group have previously normal
pregnancy. And only 9.4% and 9.4% study and control group, respectively they had some problem with previous pregnancy. Also only 5.3% in the study group and 6.7% of the control group they delivered before 9 months and 14.8% and 13.5% they delivered CS.
• The majority of the studied sample study and control 74.7% and 80.0% complained from weakness during their pregnancies.
• As regards women meals, the results 70.7% of study group and 60% of control one eat 3-4 meal/ day.
• Concerning the mothers dietary health habits 89.3% and 86.7% in study and control groups washing vegetables with running water for minutes. about half of both groups 58.0% use fresh vegetables daily.
• Most of 80.0% the study group 70.7% of control group taking iron and vitamins with no statistically significance difference (P>0.05).
• Also 50.7% and 46.7% respectively of both groups drinking tea, coffee and coca directly after meals.
• The study mothers HB levels, increase from the 4th month of gestation to the 9th month among the study group than for the control group.
• After implementing the health educational program, an improvement in mothers’ knowledge and practices about anemia was detected compared to before the program implementation.
• After the implementation of the program, the study group showed
improvement in pregnancy and newborn health conditions.
This study concluded that:
Anemia has remained a wide spread health problem among both
studied groups of pregnant mothers. Health education about diet and iron
supplementation improved mothers’ knowledge and corrected their
practices toward anemia.
The study, recommended that:
• Early attendance to antenatal care to discover the anemia and to
assess the HB level and weight during antenatal visits.
• Nutritional education should be provided for anemic pregnant
women and their families about the healthy balanced diet, healthy cooking and eating, daily requirements, etc.
• Further study on larger sample is needed to generalize the effect
of the health educational program for anemic pregnant women.