Role of individualized antepartum health education in decreasing the rate of cesarean delivery due to social factors

Objective: To investigate the role of individualized antepartum health education in decreasing the rate of cesarean delivery due to social factors. Methods: Two thousand and eighty-nine pregnant women who had their routine prenatal examinations and labors during 2010 in a Three-A hospital were studied and 1 922 pregnant women who had their labors during 2009 in the same hospital acted as control. The control group received only the antepartum health education, while the study group received one-to-one individual antepartum health education. A questionnaire was conducted in the pregnant women having chosen cesarean delivery,not confirmed about the delivery style and requiring for cesarean delivery due to social factors during hospital stay. The delivery patterns and the constituent ratio of cesarean delivery due to social factors were compared, and the influence of individualized antepartum health education was analyzed. Results: There were 821 cesarean deliveries in the study group (39.3%) and 889 in the control group (46.3%) (P < 0.01). The number of cesarean delivery amounted to 159 in the study group(19.4%) and 388 in the control group (43.6%) (P < 0.01). There were also some differences in the demographic data and the constituent ratio of specific social factors for cesarean deliveries between the two groups(P < 0.05-P < 0.01). Conclusions: Individualized antepartum health education could decrease the rate of cesarean delivery due to social factors and should be carried out before and after hospital admission. The effect of individualized antepartum health education is influenced by the age, educational background, occupation and specific social factors leading to cesarean delivery.