Impact of Tailored Educational Intervention on Knowledge and Health Related Behaviors among Outdoors Working Pregnant Women Regarding Climate Change

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer of Maternal and Neonatal Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt.

2 Lecturer of Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Suez Canal University, Egypt.

3 Assistant Professor of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: The climate change in Egypt is rapidly accelerating which puts pregnant mothers and their developing fetus at serious risk. So that, Egypt developed its first comprehensive national climate change strategy to manage the challenges of climate change for maintaining pregnant women’s health. This study aimed to investigate the impact of tailored educational intervention on knowledge and health-related behaviors regarding climate changes among outdoors working pregnant women. Study Design: A quasi-experimental one-group pre-post-test design was utilized. Study Setting: The Antenatal Outpatient Clinic of three main hospitals in Tanta city; Tanta university hospital, El-Menshawy general hospital and El- Mabara hospital. Study Subjects: A purposive sample of 100 outdoors pregnant women was recruited. Study Tools: Four tools were used for data collection, structured interview questionnaire, knowledge assessment structured interview questionnaire, women's health-related behaviors questionnaire and adverse pregnancy outcomes questionnaire. Results: Following the implementation of the tailored educational intervention, a substantial proportion of the pregnant women demonstrated a high level of knowledge regarding climate change and its harmful effects, in contrast to the noticeably lower knowledge levels observed prior to the intervention. With respect to health-related behaviors, there was a marked improvement in the overall scores post-intervention, indicating enhanced awareness and adoption of healthier practices related to climate change. Additionally, the findings revealed a statistically significant decrease in adverse pregnancy outcomes among the participants after receiving the educational intervention. Conclusion: research aim has been achieved and hypothesis supported which resulted in a statistically significant positive improvement of pregnant women' knowledge and health related behavior regarding climate change as well as a reduction in the adverse pregnancy outcomes after applying tailored educational intervention.  Recommendations: Apply antenatal care in the face of challenging life situations through innovative educational interventions to reduce the negative impacts on mother and fetal health caused by climate change conditions.

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