A tertiary care study to assess the effectiveness of ‘Supplement adherence kit’ on intake of nutritional supplements among pregnant women

BACKGROUND: An antenatal mother undergoes significant changes throughout pregnancy and most of which occur during the second trimester. Supplements are important for normal growth and development of fetus, Deficiency of supplements during pregnancy leads to anemia and can have a negative impact on perinatal and maternal outcomes. These complications can be prevented by supplementing needed vitamins and minerals. METHOD: A Quasi-experimental study was conducted on 137 subjects visiting gynecology OPD enrolled by total enumerative sampling technique. Hemoglobin level and the adherence of supplements were assessed during the second trimester of antenatal mothers in both the groups. RESULTS: Adherence of supplements has increased significantly (p value = 0.005, 0.004, and 0.040 for iron, folic acid, and calcium, respectively) among subjects in the experimental group. Results of SMAQ shows that there is increase in adherent mothers from 33.3% to 71.2% experimental group. CONCLUSION: Supplement adherence kit was effective in increasing supplement adherence level along with an improvement in hemoglobin levels among antenatal mothers in the Experimental group.