Paramedical Sciences and Military Health

Introduction: Pregnancy is one of the most important and dangerous periods in the life of the mother and fetus. Maternal health or illness during this period affects not only the quality of life but also the health of the fetus and mother. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of pregnancy education on the health index of infants and the process of childbirth in pregnant mothers.
Methods and Materials: This study of double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 187 pregnant women referred to the pregnancy clinic of Shohada Ghaen Educational and Medical Center in 2018. The sample was randomly selected and it was randomly divided into two
groups of experimental and control. The experimental group took part in preparation classes for child birth during 8 sessions of 1.5 hours. Moreover, the control group received the usual prenatal care. To collect data, an individual information questionnaire, a physiological index record sheet, a partographic form, and a scale were used to weigh the baby. Data analysis was performed through statistical experiments of Key and Square test, independent t-test and ManWittney using SPSS statistical software (version 16).
Results: In the study of health indexes of infants, statistical results showed that there was no significant statistical difference between the two groups in birth weight, head circumference, height of the infant and Apgar in the first and fifth minutes. The duration of labor showed that the length of the first stage was 184.92± 13 in the experimental group and it was 252.58±14 in the control group, which is statistically significant (P = 0.002). However, there was no significant difference between the second and third stage in two groups.
Discussion and Conclusion: Pregnancy classes reduce the duration of childbirth. Thus, it is recommended that these classes be more extensively organized in the Pregnancy and Childbirth Care Centers.
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