The effect of education given to pregnant women on the perception of traumatic birth

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to develop the E-Health Literacy Scale in Pregnant Women in the first stage and to determine the effect of the education given to pregnant women on the perception of traumatic childbirth in the second stage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The first phase of the study was conducted with a methodological design, the second phase was descriptive, and the third phase was planned as a randomized controlled trial (NCT06637735). The study was conducted with pregnant women between December 2023 and December 2024. The sample group in the scale development study of the first stage consisted of 285 pregnant women, the sample group in the second stage consisted of 565 pregnant women, and the sample group in the third stage consisted of 64 pregnant women in total, including 32 pregnant women in the training group and 32 pregnant women in the control group. In the second phase of the study, online training was given to the training group, while no intervention was given to the control group. The data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software, using percentage, mean, independent t test, dependent t test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: The developed scale consists of 13 items and two sub-dimensions (information access and application and information reliability and awareness). The minimum score obtained from the scale is 13 and the maximum score is 65. The Cronbach alpha internal reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.933 and the sub-dimension reliabilities were found to be reliable in the range of 0.910-0.894. It was determined that the pre-test scores of the Traumatic Birth Perception Scale of the training group were higher than the control group; however, the post-test and follow-up scores of the Traumatic Birth Perception Scale of the control group were higher than the training group, and a significant difference was found (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The E-Health Literacy Scale in Pregnant Women was found to be a valid and reliable tool. There was a statistically significant difference between the pre-test, post-test and follow-up scores of the traumatic birth perception scale of the training group participants. The training was found to be effective in reducing pregnant women's perception of traumatic childbirth. Keywords: Education, E-Health Literacy, Pregnancy, Pregnant, Perception of Traumatic Childbirth