THE IMPACT OF AN ANTENATAL EDUCATION COURSE ON THE EMPOWERMENT OF PREGNANT WOMEN
Pregnancy, childbirth, antenatal education.
Introduction: Pregnancy and childbirth are unique in a woman’s life and for these moments to be lived integrally and have positive closures, it is important that the pregnant woman is empowered about her process. Multidisciplinary antenatal educational programs have a fundamental task on the supply of information about the pregnancy-birth-postpartum cycle, on the strengthening of the female autonomy and consequent pregnant woman empowerment.
Objective: Analyze the effects of a antenatal educational program on the empowerment of the women related to their gestational process and childbirth.
Methods: It is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study. The pregnant women will subscribe voluntarily on the educational program for pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The subscribed will pass through a series of evaluations before and after the intervention. Data is collected in the Physical Therapy Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
Preliminary results: The pregnant women had a mean age of 31,3 years old (±3,2), gestational age of 23 weeks (±4,6), and all of them were primiparous and lived with their partners. When measured before the antenatal preparation course, the variable “fear of birth” was positive for 60% of the women. By the end of the course, it went to 70%. However, the variable “fear of pain” decreased from 40 to 10% after the intervention. Meanwhile, the “fear of not being respected” increased from 10 to 40%.