Efficacy of mobile app-based training on health literacy among pregnant women: A randomized controlled trial study

OBJECTIVE: : Health literacy of mothers during pregnancy shows social and cognitive skills indicating the motivation and ability of mothers to receive and use useful knowledge to maintain and promote the health of themselves and their children. The present study was conducted aimed to determine the effect of mobile app-based training on health literacy among pregnant women. STUDY DESIGN: A random allocation clinical trial was conducted on 140 eligible mothers. All participants were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. Data collection tools included personal information and maternal health literacy questionnaires. The questionnaires were completed and then a mobile app-based training intervention was performed for the experimental group. The participants of the experimental group were asked to read the contents of the software once a week for 8 weeks. The questionnaires were completed again after 8 weeks of the training intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21. Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, Fisher, Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and one-way analysis of variance was used for this purpose. RESULTS: The participants showed no statistically significant difference in terms of demographic-social information (p > 0.05). The mean change in health literacy scores after the intervention was statistically significant between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.001). Also, the mean change in health literacy scores before and after the intervention in the experimental group was statistically significant (p < 0.001). But this change in the control group was not statistically significant (p = 0.609). CONCLUSIONS: For the first time we used mobile app-based training and results showed that it is effective in the health literacy of pregnant women especially in situations like the Corona Virus pandemic. Therefore, it is suggested that health care providers, especially midwives, use this training method to promote the health literacy of pregnant women.