INTRODUCTION:

Every pregnancy is a unique experience for the women and each pregnancy that the women experience will be new and uniquely different. Reproduction though considered to be an usual process in the life of a women, is stressful and can lead to the risk and threats in reproductive age group women unless, appropriate measures are taken in time, it may reach its peak and endanger the life of mothers. A study conducted by ‘Haubran’ recommended that discomforts among antenatal mothers are common and there is a need to develop and implement planned education in comfort measures specifically to each trimester. He also indicated assessment of discomforts serves as the basis for instruction to initiate a change in patient’s behavior to improve, maintain and restore equilibrium.

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

A woman who is pregnant for the first time enters pregnancy with certain beliefs, attitudes and knowledge towards child bearing. Some of which are unscientific and unhealthy like eating papaya will cause abortion, consuming plenty of food and water will make the baby oversize and make deliveries difficult.

These misconceptions need to be corrected for the sake of the child as well as the mother, through proper information. Understanding the common disorders of pregnancy in order to advise the women on strategies that help her to cope with the condition and minimize the effects she experiences. Although such disorders are termed as “minor disorders” they are far from minor for the woman, who is experiencing them.

Today, nurses and midwives have an important role in health promotion, bring the health care manufacturers. The midwife is posed to a unique function of identifying and providing huge standard of antenatal care that contributes to the maintenance of good health and minimize the severity of the disease. It also indicates that, for those who have poor knowledge regarding minor disorders during pregnancy, it is to be estimated that most of the ailments can be controlled through proper education.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the incidence among primigravida mothers experiencing minor discomforts of pregnancy.

To assess the knowledge about minor discomforts of pregnancy and its management by the primigravida mothers during their pregnancy.

To administer structured teaching programme on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management.

To identify the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Quasi experimental research approach one group pretest post-test design was adopted for this study.

The schematic representation of study design is presented in 3 phases.

Group	Phase I	Phase II
	Pre-test	Treatment
30 primigravida women	Pretest before Administration of structured interview schedule	Planned teaching program
Phase III
Post-test- After administration of structured teaching programme.

Phase I: Pre-test was conducted on the first day for primigravida women and knowledge on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management was assessed by using structured interview schedule.

Phase II: Planned teaching programme on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management was given on the same day by using charts, real objects, chalk and blackboard.

Phase III: Post-test was conducted for primigravida women on seventh day by using the same tool.

Sample size:

Samples size is 30 and it was selected using non probability purposive sampling technique.

Method of Data analysis:

Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the demographic data’s using frequency and percentage. The knowledge on minor disorders of pregnancy was assessed by the structured questionnaire method and was analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, median and standard deviation. The effectiveness of structured teaching program was analyzed using ‘t’ test in identifying the significant difference in the mean knowledge score of pre-test and post-test values and using chi-square test the association between demographic variables with knowledge score was found. To find out the association with the selected demographic variables and knowledge scores respondents were categorized into three groups as follows, below 50% as inadequate knowledge, 51 to 75% as moderate knowledge and above 75% as adequate knowledge.

RESULTS:

Findings of the study revealed 72% of the respondents belong to 21 to 31 years, 66% of the respondents were from joint family, 66% of mothers were illiterate and it was interesting to note that the illiteracy doesn’t show any significant association with knowledge because they were able to acquire information from in-laws due to the pattern of Joint family status in villages.

In the pretest the findings of the present study revealed that the highest percentage (63%) of the respondents had inadequate knowledge and only (37%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge regarding minor disorders of pregnancy and its management. Of the 30 pregnant women studied, 80.3 % reported minor disorders during pregnancy. Out of thirty, 28 % reported one episode of ill health, 15 % reported 2 episodes, the remaining women 57% reported 3 or more different types of illness. Nausea and vomiting was experienced by 69.7% of the study sample. Other common symptom experienced by the study samples were back ache, dizziness and heart burn/regurgitation. Vaginal bleeding in pregnancy is not recognized as a danger sign in the rural community requiring intervention.

The mean percentage of total knowledge scores of the pre-test was (32.23%) with mean ± SD of 9.67 ± 3.79, pre-test area wise mean percentage of knowledge score was (38.33%) in the area of definition of minor disorders during pregnancy with a mean and SD of 3.83 ± 1.15; whereas the post-test mean percentage of knowledge score was (89.67%), showing (51.34%) of effectiveness of planned teaching program. The pre-test median score was 9 whereas post-test median score was 25. This indicates that there is significant increase in the knowledge scores of primigravida. The calculated ‘t’ value was greater than the table value at 0.1%Hence the null hypothesis was rejected and research hypothesis was accepted indicating that the gain in knowledge was not by chance. Therefore, it is concluded that the gain in knowledge of primigravida woman through planned teaching program on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management was very highly significant.

The pretest and post-test knowledge scores of respondents by demographic variables are subjected to X2 test. There exists a non-significant association in pretest with chi-square value of X2=2.920,p>0.05 except educational status.

IMPLICATIONS:

Nursing Practice:

The nurse plays a pivotal role in the delivery of health care to pregnant mothers. The nurse can educate the pregnant mothers on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management. Nurses can have contact with family members easily to educate them also.

Nursing Research:

Research helps nurses to take decisions on minor disorders of pregnancy and its management.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

A prospective study can he conducted A study can be undertaken with a large sample to generalize the findings. A similar study can also be conducted in the community at home. A similar study can be conducted to assess the knowledge of staff nurses on minor disorders and its management.

REFERENCES:

1. The NSG Journal of India Volume XCVI No. 4, April 2005, WHO. 73.

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Received on 30.12.2014 Modified on 07.01.2014

Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research 5(1): Jan.-March 2015; Page118-120

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2015.00025.7