Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal (Pal. Med. Pharm. J.)

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Keywords

• Family support
• Empowerment program
• Pregnant adolescents
• Maternal self-esteem

Abstract

Background: Adolescent pregnancy has an impact not only on the health of the baby but also on the physical, psychological, and social situation of the growing girl. Low maternal self-esteem can lead to self-doubt and a lack of confidence in motherhood. Aim: To examine the effect of an empowerment program integrated with family support on maternal self-esteem among pregnant Palestinian adolescents. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial with a two-group pretest/posttest design. Fifty-eight pregnant adolescents were recruited from six governmental primary healthcare clinics in Palestine. The participants were randomly allocated to either the control group (n = 29) to receive only antenatal care, or the experimental group (n = 29) to receive both antenatal care and the proposed intervention. The demographic information, the Maternal Self-Report Inventory-Short Form (MSRI-SF), and the Family Support Questionnaire (FSQ) were the instruments used for data collection. Data were collected at 32 or 33 weeks (baseline) and 36 or 37 weeks (posttest). The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and t-tests. Results: The experimental group maternal self-esteem levels following the intervention significantly improved when compared to their baseline scores (t = 15.12, p < .001). Furthermore, the experimental group had significantly higher post-test scores than the control group (t = 11.41, p < .001). Post -intervention family support scores differed significantly between the experimental and control groups (t = 5.93, p <.001) and within the experimental group between pre- and post-intervention (t = 10.24, p <.001). Conclusion: This study shows that improving maternal self-esteem in pregnant adolescents in Palestine may be accomplished practically and successfully through an empowerment program integrated with family support.

معلومات المقال

قيد النشر

الكلمات الإفتتاحية

• Family support
• Empowerment program
• Pregnant adolescents
• Maternal self-esteem

الملخص

Background: Adolescent pregnancy has an impact not only on the health of the baby but also on the physical, psychological, and social situation of the growing girl. Low maternal self-esteem can lead to self-doubt and a lack of confidence in motherhood. Aim: To examine the effect of an empowerment program integrated with family support on maternal self-esteem among pregnant Palestinian adolescents. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial with a two-group pretest/posttest design. Fifty-eight pregnant adolescents were recruited from six governmental primary healthcare clinics in Palestine. The participants were randomly allocated to either the control group (n = 29) to receive only antenatal care, or the experimental group (n = 29) to receive both antenatal care and the proposed intervention. The demographic information, the Maternal Self-Report Inventory-Short Form (MSRI-SF), and the Family Support Questionnaire (FSQ) were the instruments used for data collection. Data were collected at 32 or 33 weeks (baseline) and 36 or 37 weeks (posttest). The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and t-tests. Results: The experimental group maternal self-esteem levels following the intervention significantly improved when compared to their baseline scores (t = 15.12, p < .001). Furthermore, the experimental group had significantly higher post-test scores than the control group (t = 11.41, p < .001). Post -intervention family support scores differed significantly between the experimental and control groups (t = 5.93, p <.001) and within the experimental group between pre- and post-intervention (t = 10.24, p <.001). Conclusion: This study shows that improving maternal self-esteem in pregnant adolescents in Palestine may be accomplished practically and successfully through an empowerment program integrated with family support.