Effects Of Nutrition Education And Counseling Intervention On Maternal Weight And Obstetric Outcomes Among Pregnant Women Of Gedeo Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia, 2019, Cluster Randomized Control Trial
Abstract BackgroundA good approach to improve maternal diet during pregnancy is nutrition education and counseling. However, due to the scarcity of intervention trials, especially in Ethiopia, the effect of nutrition education and counseling intervention on pregnancy outcomes is not well studied.ObjectiveTo assess the effect of nutrition education and counseling on maternal weight and the outcomes of pregnancy among pregnant women in public health care institutions of Gedeo Zone, Southern, Ethiopia.MethodsA cluster randomized control trial study design was undertaken. Simple random sampling followed by cluster sampling was used to reach eligible study participants. A total sample of 235 (115 intervention vs.120 control group) pregnant women who followed antenatal care service in public health facilities of Gedeo Zone were included in the study. Independent t-test was used to analyze the group difference for continuous variable and chi-square test for categorical variables. The post intervention values between two groups were compared using ANCOVA by adjusting to the baseline variables.ResultAfter nutrition education and counseling, pregnant women in the control group had less weight gain than in the intervention (65.03kg vs. 56.69kg, p = 0.001). The proportion of LBW neonate was 17.8% in the intervention group and 38.2% in the control group (p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of LBW in the control group was 2.43 more likely than in the intervention group (AOR = 2.43; 95% CI: (1.2, 4.92).ConclusionNutrition education and counseling delivered to pregnant women on the time of pregnancy could reduce maternal malnutrition and low birth weight. We can recommend that; the intervention is easy to implement in health facilities of Gedeo zone and would be implemented without delay to achieve sustainable development goals.The trial was retrospectively registered in Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (www.pactr.org) database with unique identification number for the registry is PACTR202101757871954.