Comparison of the effect of face-to-face training and telemedicine on self-care in adolescent pregnant women: A quasi-experimental study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Improving self-care in adolescent pregnancy leads to improved maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancy. However, self-care in adolescent pregnancy is less than other women. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of face-to-face training and telemedicine on self-care in adolescent pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is a quasi-experimental study that was conducted in Zahedan in 2021 and 120 adolescent pregnant women with a gestational age of 15-20 weeks participated in it. The sampling was done in multistage, and the samples were divided into three groups Face-to-face training, telemedicine, and control. Face-to-face training was presented in five sessions and the telemedicine group received the similar educational content through the mobile applications. The samples completed a researcher-made self-care questionnaire before the intervention and at 28 weeks of gestation. SPSS software version 21 was used for the analysis, and data were analyzed by ANOVA, Tukey post hoc, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in face-to-face and telemedicine training in improving the scores of nutritional performance, smoking and narcotics use, personal hygiene, and routine pregnancy care (P > 0.05), but face-to-face training caused more improvement in the scores of sports and physical activity as compared to telemedicine group (P = 0.04). Face-to-face training and telemedicine training in all domains led to a significant improvement in scores as compared to the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the face-to-face training and telemedicine methods were proper methods for self-care education in pregnant adolescent women. It is recommended to use these methods in promoting self-care in pregnant adolescent women.