EFFECTS OF AN ANTENATAL EDUCATION PROGRAM ON THE EMPOWERMENT OF PREGNANT WOMEN
Pregnancy, childbirth, antenatal education.
Introduction: Pregnancy and childbirth are unique in a woman’s life and for these moments to be lived integrally and have positive closures it is important that the pregnant woman is empowered about her process. Multidisciplinary antenatal educational programs have a fundamental task on the supply of information about the pregnancy-birth-postpartum cycle, on the strengthening of the female autonomy and consequent pregnant woman empowerment. Objective: Analyze the effects of an antenatal educational program on the empowerment of pregnant women related to their gestational process and childbirth. Methods: It is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study. The pregnant women subscribed voluntarily on the educational program for pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum and passed through a series of evaluations before and after the intervention and after childbirth. Data was collected in the Physical Therapy Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Results: 62 pregnant women were included (mean age: 30,39 ± 5,3 years old and gestational age: 24,1 ± 5,8 weeks. There was no significant results on the empowerment, fear of childbirth and fear of pain. 53,8% felt discommodity during childbirth, and 100% of the participants who had been through labor related that the antenatal education has helped them to deal with pain in childbirth. Conclusion: Antenatal education helps pregnant women to cope better with pain during the parturition process.