Impact of Supportive Information-Based Guidelines in Gaining the Recommended Gestational Weight among Low-risk Women: A Quasi-Experiment

Abstract

Better adherence to dietary guidelines during pregnancy is supposed to result in healthier perinatal outcomes. We aimed to examine the impact of supportive information-based guidelines in gaining the recommended gestational weight among low-risk pregnant women in Egypt. The main objectives were to; 1) modify pregnant women's lifestyle behavior to achieve optimal weight gain in pregnancy, 2) add evidence to the utilization of the ACOG & WHO dietary pregnancy guidelines in the antenatal care, and 3) establish clear antenatal routine care strategy for gaining an optimal gestational weight among low-risk pregnant women. The analysis included 60 first trimester primiparous pregnant women with normal pre-pregnancy weight with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2. The total sample was divided into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received an educational session; the content mainly included supportive information based on WHO dietary pregnancy guidelines and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, followed by text messages twice a week during the second and third trimesters antenatal follow-up of gestational weight. At the same time, women in the control group received standard outpatient antenatal follow-up. This study’s findings shed light on gained gestational weight in the second and third trimesters, with observable differences between both groups related to the second-trimester weight gain. Our study adds to the existing body of knowledge and fills an important gap by investigating the implementation of international guidelines in Egypt's maternal health care practice. In addition, we innovatively used a simple and cost-effective method, namely supportive information, to enhance weight gain management during pregnancy. Further studies are needed to validate the effectiveness of adopting the guidelines as a part of antenatal follow-up.