The effect of self-management promotion program for pregnant women on knowledge and behavior to prevent low birth weight infants at LomSak Hospital Phetchabun Province.

Abstract

      This research is a quasi-experimental design with a one-group pre-and post-test measurement configuration. The objective is to study the effect of a self-management promotion program for pregnant women on knowledge and behaviors regarding the prevention of low birth weight infants at Lomsak Hospital, Phetchabun Province. The sample consists of pregnant women with a gestational age of 20-24 weeks who received antenatal care at Lomsak Hospital, specifically selected based on predefined characteristics.The study was conducted from December 2025 to April 2026 with 25 participants, implementing a self-management program for pregnant women to prevent low birth weight infants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics using the paired samples t-test with a 95% confidence interval (CI).

      The research findings revealed that 1) the assessment of the difference in average scores of behaviors for preventing low birth weight infants before and after the experiment showed that after the experiment, the average scores of both overall and individual behaviors were significantly higher than before the experiment in the following areas: overall (t = 14.60, p<.001), nutritional behavior (t = 9.66,    p < .001), physical activity behavior (t = 16.14, p < .001), and stress management behavior (t = 7.86, p < .001). and health responsibility behavior (t = 5.41, p < .001) 2) The average knowledge score of pregnant women showed that after the experiment, the average knowledge score was significantly higher than before the experiment (t = 5.48, p<.001).