How Did Prenatal Education Impact Women's Perception of Pregnancy and Postnatal Life in a Romanian Population.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Prenatal education represents an important part of maternal prenatal care in Western countries. In Romania, prenatal education is of recent interest but there is no official information about prenatal courses and their impact on prenatal care and patients in Romania. Material and methods: A prospective study based on the STROBE statement was designed in order to assess the prenatal education delivered in our unit. The study group included women who gave birth at Bucur Maternity, “Saint. John” Hospital, Bucharest, Romania and attended the prenatal courses, compared with a control group (women who gave birth in our unit but did not attend the prenatal lecture). Patients’ perception about the impact of prenatal education was collected by applying a questionnaire. Results: The analysis included 89 women who fulfilled the questionnaire online. In our study, 62 women (69.7%) attended the prenatal education classes and represented the study group while 27 women (30.3%) constituted the control group. Women who attended the prenatal lecture recognized the utility of the topic regarding newborn care (90.3%), while women from the control group did not consider it useful (n = 55.6%), χ2 = 18.412, p < 0.001. Patients from the study group admitted the importance of the topics (93.5%) from the lectures about breast feeding, while the percentage of these women from the control group is significantly lower (55.6%) χ2 = 27.867, p < 0.001. Conclusions: The benefits of prenatal education were recognized by women who attended the prenatal lecture, while women who did not participate underestimated the utility of the topics. Further actions are required to inform mothers about the necessity of antenatal education.