The Effect of Training Pregnant Women and Their Husbands on Health Promoting Behaviors during Pregnancy and Postpartum Period

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Health promoting lifestyle is any kind of action that is taken to maintain the health of the individual. Healthy lifestyle plays an important role in improving the maternal-fetal outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of training pregnant women and their husbands on health promoting lifestyle. METHODS: This clinical trial was conducted among 189 pregnant women in the city of Bukan, Iran. Participants were categorized into three groups: the recipients of the training along with their husbands (the first intervention group), the recipients of the training without their husbands (the second group of intervention) and the routine care recipients (control group). Four sessions of group training were held for mothers of both interventional groups and one group training session was held for the mothers of the first intervention group regarding sleep health, nutrition, physical activity, self-image and sexual issues. Health promoting lifestyle questionnaire (score range: 52 - 208) was completed and assessed before the intervention, eight weeks after the intervention and six weeks after delivery. FINDINGS: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups before the intervention in terms of the total score of health promoting lifestyle. Eight weeks after the intervention, the mean score of health promoting lifestyle was 162.2±2.5 in the first group, 153.6±2.5 in the second group and 133.4±2.4 in the control group, which was significantly higher in both intervention groups compared to the control group (p<0.001). Six weeks after delivery, the mean score of health promoting lifestyle was 159.8±3.0 in the first group of intervention, 143.1±3.0 in the second group and 133.7±3.0 in the control group, which was significantly higher in the first group of intervention compared to the second group of intervention (p=0.003) and control group (p