TITLE:
The relation between pregnant adolescents’ attitude about nutrition and weight gain during pregnancy and hemoglobin level
AUTHORS:
Türkan Özünlü, Senay Cetinkaya
KEYWORDS:
Adolescent Pregnancy; Nutrition; Hemoglobin; Weight; Nursing
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.3 No.1A,
February
5,
2013
ABSTRACT: Purpose: This study is carried out to analyze the relation of weight raise and hemoglobin level during pregnancy of pregnant adolescents to their nutriational attitudes. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study carried out to examine the relationship between nutrition habits vs weight and level of hemoglobin in the 49 pregnant adolescents participants (≤18 years of age) who had applied to pregnant and emergency services in Sammas Vehbi Ekecik Gynecology and Children’s Hospital in the city of Aksaray, Turkey, between February 15 and March 25 2004, and accepted to participate in this study. General information regarding the pregnant adolescents, their knowledge on nutrition and nutritional habits were filled in during face-to-face interviews. These pregnant adolescents were monitored during the months of April, May, June and July and their measurements were taken. Data of the study were analyzed in a computer. Results: When the nutritional knowledge scores of the pregnant adolescents are considered, it was seen that 30 (61.2%) had a good knowledge level, 10 (20.4%) had a knowledge of intermediary level, and 9 (18.3%) had a low or insufficient level of knowledge. As for the nutrition habit scores, 28 of pregnant adolescents (57.1%) had fine, and 21 of them (42.7%) had poor and inadequate levels of nutrition habits. Conclusion: When the relation between the hemoglobin levels measured of the pregnant adolescents’ according to the their nutrition knowledge scores and the distribution of their habits was analysed, it was not found meaningful (p > 0.05).