The Effect of Pregnancy-related Religious Training on Religious Attitudes among Pregnant Women

Background & aim: Many researchers believe that religious doctrines have persistent effects on the mental and physical health and other aspects of human life. This study aimed to investigate the effect of pregnancy-related religious training on religious attitudes among pregnant women. Methods: This interventional study was conducted on 84 pregnant women with low and medium levels of religious attitudes in 2013. The study population was randomly divided into two groups of intervention (n=42) and control (n=42). The intervention group received religious education within the gestational weeks of 20-28 in six sessions. The control group received routine hospital trainings. The two groups filled out the religious attitude questionnaires before, immediately after, and two months following the intervention. The data were analyzed with SPSS, version 16, using t-test. Results: The results of the independence t-test revealed no significant difference between the two groups regarding the level of religious attitudes before the intervention (P=0.936). However, there was a significant difference between the two groups in this regard immediately after the intervention (P=0.001) and two months post-intervention (P=0.001). The level of religious attitudes increased from weak and moderate to a high rate following the intervention. Conclusion: Given the positive impact of religious education on religious beliefs and attitudes, it is recommended to use this potential in prenatal care planning

The impact of Islamic religious education on anxiety level in primipara mothers

Background: Anxiety is among the most common pregnancy complications. This study was conducted to examine the impact of religious teaching on anxiety in primiparous mothers referring to the selected perinatal clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2013. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on the pregnant women in 20–28 weeks of gestation referring to the selected clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences from July 2013 to June 2014. The subjects were selected through simple random sampling and divided into religious education and control groups. To assess the individuals, a demographic questionnaire, an anxiety trait State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and a religious knowledge and attitude trait (pre- test and post-test and 1 or 2 months after the test) were filled in by the two groups. Training classes (religious knowledge and attitude trait) for the cases were held in 6 weeks, and the sessions lasted for 1½ h. Results: The knowledge and attitude scores showed significant differences in the controls and cases after the intervention (P = 0.001) and 2 months after the study (P = 0.001). According to the results of independent t-test, a significant difference was found in the state anxiety score (P = 0.002) and personal score (P = 0.0197) between the two groups before the intervention; however, the results were strongly significant different after the intervention and 2 months after the study (P ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: The improvement in the mothers' knowledge and attitude in religious subjects will reduce anxiety in primiparas

Investigation of the effect of religious doctrines on religious knowledge and attitude and postpartum blues in primiparous women

Background: Postpartum blues is a transient change of moods occurring in the first few days after delivery. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of religious doctrines on postpartum blues in primiparous women. Materials and Methods: In this randomized controlled tria1, 84 primiparous women who had average or weak religious attitude were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. In the intervention group, religious doctrines were instructed from 20 th to 28 th weeks of gestation through 6 weekly sessions of 60-90 min each. The control group, however, just received the routine care. Spielberger′s anxiety scale and the questionnaires assessing religious knowledge and attitude were completed by both groups before, immediately after, and 1-2 months after the intervention. Also, postpartum blues were evaluated by Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) 10 days after delivery. Then, the data were analyzed using Chi-square, paired t-test, independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The results showed postpartum blues in 59.5% of the study participants. Besides, the results of independent t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the mean score of postpartum blues (P = 0.036). Although the intervention group′s knowledge and attitude scores were higher than those of the control group, no significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the correlation coefficient between postpartum blues and religious knowledge (P = 0.088) and religious attitude (P = 0.7). Conclusions: The results of the study show that instruction of religious doctrines was effective in increasing the religious knowledge and attitudes and reducing the postpartum blues

The Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life Instrument (MPQOL-I): development and psychometric evaluation in an exploratory sequential mixed-method study

Abstract Background “ Postpartum quality of life” refers to women’s satisfaction of their position in life, based on cultural status, expectations, values, attitudes, goals, and living standards. Hence the need to pay attention to more specific dimensions of quality of life in the postpartum period is being sensed. This study was conducted to develop the Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life Instrument (MPQOL-I) and assess its psychometric properties. Methods This methodological study was conducted in 2019–2020. This exploratory, sequential mixed-method study was conducted in two phases. The first phase is MPQOL-I development and the second phase is psychometric evaluation of the developed scale. In the quantitative (psychometric evaluation) phase, face, content, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity and reliability of the scale were tested. Results In this study, 5 factors were extracted from items through exploratory factor analysis: (1) received support, (2) sexual relations, (3) bonding with newborn, (4) breastfeeding and newborn care, and (5) the transition period. These factors accounted for 53.26% of the total variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis suggested the goodness-of-fit indices was acceptable. Furthermore, the internal consistency and composite reliability indices of factors were greater than 0.7. Conclusion The sixteen-item Persian language MPQOL-I is a valid and reliable instrument for postpartum quality of life assessment. It includes items from different aspects of postpartum quality of life and can be used for the early diagnosis of impaired postpartum quality of life. Further studies are needed to assess the psychometric properties of MPQOL-I in different cultures and communities