Structured antenatal teaching and its effect on knowledge enhancement among primigravid mothers

This research evaluated how useful a structured health education intervention would be in developing sound knowledge of Antenatal Care (ANC) in first-time pregnant (primigravid) mothers from selected hospitals in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Despite increasing efforts to improve maternal health, there still exists a significant lack of awareness regarding ANC among primigravid mothers. A pre-experimental, one-group pre-test-post-test design was implemented, and 300 primigravid mothers were recruited through purposive sampling. ANC knowledge was assessed using a validated structured questionnaire prior to intervention and at 90 days after the end of the structured health education program. A statistically significant improvement in ANC knowledge was found after delivery of the structured health education program, with the mean score after 90 days (34.38, SD = 3.11) significantly exceeding the mean score prior to the structured program (22.74, SD = 2.09), p < 0.001. Following the structured education program, improvements were found in all domains of ANC knowledge for the first-time mothers. Based on our findings, we believe that structured health education is an effective method to enhance the ANC knowledge of first-time mothers and, as such, should be included in routine ANC service delivery to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes.