The Effect of Health Educational Program for Pregnant Women about Knowledge and Use of Folic Acid Supplementation

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin B 9 (folic acid and folate) is essential to numerous bodily functions. The human body needs folate to synthesize, repair, and methylate Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as well as to act as a cofactor in certain biological reactions. It is especially important in aiding rapid cell division and growth, such as in infancy and pregnancy. Aim: The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge and effect of the educational program regarding folic acid supplementation among pregnant women. Method: Pre-Posttest design was utilized in this study. Setting: this study was conducted at the Child Health (MCH) centers at Minia City. Sample: 100 pregnant women who are randomly selected were included in this study. Tool: A Structured interview questionnaire was used in this study which included personal data socioeconomic data and knowledge related to folic acid. Results: 75% of studied sample not taken folic acid during the pregnancy period .Also the results show that there were high differences between pre and post educational program among them as regard mean of total knowledge scores. Conclusion: There were poor knowledge about folic acid among pregnant women and increase mean total knowledge scores after the educational program. So, we recommend that, development of health education program is essential for pregnant women regarding folic acid usage.

Prevalence and associated factors of anemia among pregnant women and the impact of clinical pharmacist counseling on their awareness level: A cross sectional study

“…The information on the questionnaire included demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, eating habits, educational status and present and past obstetric history of pregnant women in addition to 3 groups of questions to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant females toward iron deficiency anemia. The questionnaire was adopted from different studies ( Adznam et al, 2018 , Ahamed et al, 2018 , Habib et al, 2018 , Serbesa and Iffa, 2018 , Oumer and Hussein, 2019 ).…”