Effect of the Attitude Enhancement Program with the Spouse’s Involvement on Birth Spacing Intention Among Muslim Teenage Postpartum Mothers

Abstract

          The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to study the effect of the attitude enhancement program with the spouse’s involvement on birth spacing intention among Muslim teenage postpartum mothers. Subjects were fifty women who attended the postpartum units of a community hospital Thailand. Twenty five pregnant women were assigned into each of the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the attitude enhancement program with the spouse’s involvement, while the control group received routine care. The instruments employed in the research comprised 2 parts: (1) experimental instrument consisting of the attitude enhancement program with the spouse’s involvement, and (2) the data-collecting instruments consisting of (2.1) a personal profile recording form, (2.2) the Birth Spacing Attitude Scale, and (2.3) the Birth Spacing Intention Scale. All instruments in this study were content validated by three experts and the reliability of the Birth Spacing Attitude and the Birth Spacing Intention was examined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, yielding values of .80 and .81, respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square, paired t-test and independent t-test.

          The results were summarized as follows Subjects in the experimental group had significantly higher mean score on birth spacing intention after intervention (mean = 60.40, SD = 5.73) than of subjects in the control group (mean = 54.72, SD = 6.36)  (p < .01). Therefore, the program can be utilized to extend on birth spacing and decrease the problem of repeated pregnancy among Muslim teenage mothers.