Do pregnant women have enough information about reproductive and fetus health? Design and evaluate the validity and reliability of the questionnaire and initial results

Science. Introduction: The health of a mother and her fetus is one of the most challenging issues in a health system in all societies. Information is the primary subject in health and a key for empowering mothers. The objective of this study is to identify information-seeking behavior and information needs of Mashhad’s pregnant women. In this study the initial results are reported. Method: This study is cross-sectional and the data is gathered through a questionnaire. Appearance and content validity of the questionnaire has been determined by a couple of gynecology obstetrics and medical informatics specialists. And the reliability of the questionnaire is measured by test retesting. 30 questionnaires are distributed in governmental health centers: Omolbanin hospital, Sarvar clinic and Ghaem special clinic and the results are extracted. Results: The average age for mothers was 26.4 and 27% had unwanted pregnancy. The results showed that most of pregnant women look for information when they encounter a problem. More than half of mothers didn’t know that they shouldn’t use soft-boiled eggs and liver during pregnancy and 37% of them have experienced toothache during pregnancy. 70% of mothers were not aware of the correct count of the  fetus movements, and 60 % of them were not aware of the infant’s care. 80 % of women tend to have a natural childbirth. Conclusion: Looking for information when coming up with a problem is not a good pattern and may lead to using the primary information source found that is not necessarily valid. The results of this study show that mothers need to get information about pregnancy care and fetus health care. Also, it is necessary to pay more attention to the imbalance of the preference of women to natural childbirth and high prevalence of cesarean.