JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The safe use of medications is a major focus in public health, especially for pregnant women. Medication-related adverse events are common in pregnant women, and most are due to misunderstanding medication information. Medication instructions often include extensive use of terminology which may be difficult for pregnant women to understand. There are diverse medication information sources and the identification of appropriate resources requires adequate medical information literacy. It is important for pregnant women to comprehensively evaluate the risk of medication treatment, self-monitoring of medication response, and actively participate in decision-making. Therefore, it is essential for pregnant women to improve their medication information literacy (MIL) and decision self-efficacy to reduce medication-related adverse events.

Objective:

To examine the effectiveness of a medication education course on a web-based platform in improving pregnant women’s MIL and decision self-efficacy.

Methods:

A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Pregnant women were recruited by convenience sampling from January to June 2021 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of a large hospital in a major city in central China. A total of 108 participants were randomly divided into a control group which received routine prenatal care from nurses and physicians, while the intervention group received an additional three-week online medication education course based on the theory of planned behavior as part of routine prenatal care. Participants completed a medication information literacy scale (MILS) and a decision self-efficacy questionnaire at baseline, upon completion of the intervention and at four weeks follow-up. Generalized Estimation Equations was used to analyze the main effect (time and grouping) and interaction effect (grouping * time) of the two outcomes. The CONSORT-EHEALTH (V 1.6.1) checklist was used to guide the reporting of this RCT.

Results:

A total of 91 pregnant women (48 in the intervention group and 43 in the control group) completed the questionnaires at the three time points. Results showed that the MIL and decision self-efficacy in the intervention group were found to be significantly higher than those in the control group (d=0.81, P<.001 and d=1.26, P<.001, respectively) and they remained significantly improved at the four-week follow-up (d=0.59, P<.001 and d=1.27, P<.001, respectively).

Conclusions:

Online medication education courses based on the theory of planned behavior can effectively improve pregnant women’s MIL and decision self-efficacy, and can be used as supplementary education during routine prenatal care.