Effectiveness of health education on knowledge and perception about pregnancy induced hypertension among Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University students, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy induced hypertension is common complication that may lead to maternal, perinatal morbidity and mortality around world. Increasing women’s education will improve their health have which ultimately affect societies and economic levels. Aim was to measure effectiveness of health education on knowledge and perception regarding pregnancy induced hypertension among Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman university students.Methods: Quasi-experimental study was conducted among 42 students at princess Nourah University. Hypertension related knowledge and perception were assessed pre-intervention and post-intervention using the same instrument. The health education program consisted of three sessions. This study was approved by Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. The students were divided into 21 intervention group and 21 control group.Results: There was significant improvement in the total knowledge in both intervention and control groups by (p value =0.004 and 0.04 respectively). In addition, there was significant improvement in total perception for intervention group by (p value =0.00), while there was no statistical difference in control group. Results showed that health education improves both knowledge and perception of pregnancy induced hypertension. By increasing knowledge, poor outcomes could also be detected early, or maybe even avoided.Conclusions: Health education intervention was effective in improving knowledge and perception of the intervention group.