The Effectiveness of Education on Tobacco Health Literacy among Pregnant Women

Background & objectives: Tobacco health literacy refers to the ability of individuals to understand and use health information related to tobacco.This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of education on improving health literacy about the effects of cigarette smoke among pregnant women in 2023.Methods: This quasi-experimental study utilized a pre-test and post-test design with intervention and control groups.The sample comprised 80 pregnant women visiting health centers in Shahrekord, selected through random sampling and divided randomly into intervention and control groups.Data were collected using a tobacco health literacy questionnaire in both pre-test and post-test phases (one month later) and analyzed with SPSS 20 software using paired and independent t-tests.Results: The paired t-test results indicated a significant increase in the average health literacy scores related to tobacco in the intervention group after training (p=0.000).The independent ttest showed that the post-education average health literacy score in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.001). Conclusion:The findings demonstrate that educational interventions effectively enhance tobacco health literacy among pregnant women, contributing to reduced smoking exposure during pregnancy.These results can inform the design of targeted interventions and educational programs addressing the needs of pregnant women.