This is a quasi‐experimental research of non‐equality control design to test the effects of the program on weight gain, dietary habits, fatigue and pregnancy stress, blood pressure, and birth weight after providing a lifestyle intervention program...
This is a quasi‐experimental research of non‐equality control design to test the effects of the program on weight gain, dietary habits, fatigue and pregnancy stress, blood pressure, and birth weight after providing a lifestyle intervention program using Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior for overweight and obese women. The subjects of this study were women who received prenatal care at A Women's Hospital and B Women's Hospital in J province, they are overweight and obese pregnant women before pregnancy, and there are a total of 52 patients who met the criteria of selection including 25 in the experimental group and 27 in the control group.
The lifestyle intervention program consisted of a total of 12 weeks and consisted of interactions involving physical activity and nutrition education, information provision, decision control and professional technical skills. The measurement variables were body weight, dietary habits, fatigue and pregnancy stress, blood pressure before and after the program, and neonatal birth weight after delivery was measured. The data collection period was from February 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017.
The results of this study are as follows.
1. The experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program was more effective than the control group in increasing the appropriate weight gain owing to higher rate of the appropriate weight gain as compared with that of the control group(χ²=6.17, p=.013).
2. The experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program had higher eating habit scores than the control group, and the lifestyle intervention program was effective in improving eating habits(t=1.93, p=.029).
3. The experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program had less fatigue increase than the control group, and the lifestyle intervention program was effective in suppressing the fatigue increase in the pregnant women(t=-2.32, p=.012).
4. The experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program was less effective in reducing pregnancy stress than the control group, and the lifestyle intervention program was effective in suppressing the increase in pregnancy stress(t=-1.87, p=.034).
5. There was no difference in the ratio of normal blood pressure between the experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program and the control group, and the lifestyle intervention program had no effect on the blood pressure of the pregnant women(χ²=1.45, p=.538).
6. There was no difference in the ratio of optimal childbirth rates between the experimental group before and after the lifestyle intervention program and the control group, and the lifestyle intervention program did not show any effect on neonatal weight
(χ²=1.88, p=.368).
Based on Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior, the lifestyle intervention program contributed to suppressing the excessive weight gain, fatigue and the stress increase in the pregnant period. Based on the results of this study, this study is to propose the following suggestions. First, this study suggests that the program should be used as an intervention for prenatal care during pregnancy under the integrated management of nurses in clinical practice. Second, it suggests that the provision of this program should be extended to pregnant women with high body mass before pregnancy. Third, it suggests follow‐up studies in relation to the implementation of lifestyle intervention and postpartum weight congruence of the participants who participated in the intervention.