Development and evaluation of ‘disaster preparedness’ educational programme for pregnant women

Purpose: The objective of this study is the development and evaluation of the usability of an educational programme that teaches disaster preparedness to pregnant women. Methods: This intervention study examined an intervention group that attended an educational programme and a control group that did not. The subjects were pregnant women in their second trimester. The programme was developed with prior studies and evaluated by self-administered questionnaires that asked about disaster preparedness. The questionnaire was administered twice to the participants in both groups: to the intervention group just before the childbirth class and 1 month after the class, and to the control group at the time of their maternity examination and 1 month afterwards. Two hundred twenty-six members of the intervention group and 262 members of the control group responded to both questionnaires. Of these, 99 of the intervention group and 104 of the control group were primiparous without disaster experience, and the programme was evaluated by comparing these two groups. Effects due to the disaster experience were also analysed within the intervention group. Results: Among primiparous without disaster experience, an intervention effect was found in items concerning awareness modification (five of six items) and behaviour modification (three of seven items). The intervention effect was particularly pronounced in a comparison of primiparous without disaster experience. Conclusions: An intervention effect was found among the pregnant women who took the programme. In particular, it was statistically significant among primiparous without disaster experience, which suggests that the programme should be shaped to reflect this subject demographic. Language: en