Influence of Maternal Health Literacy on Healthy Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes of Women Attending Public Hospitals in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of maternal health literacy on
healthy pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. It was carried out among 231
pregnant women and nursing mothers using the descriptive survey research design of the expost-facto type. Three hypotheses were tested by using pearson product moment correlation. The study established that there were significant relationships between maternal health literacy and antenatal care (r = .445, df = 229, p<.05) and healthy pregnancy (r = .367, df = 229, P<.65). However, it established that there was no significant relationship between maternal health literacy and pregnancy outcomes (r = .006, df = 229, P> .05). Based on the above findings it was recommended that, the health care-givers should encourage the pregnant women and nursing mothers to enroll in adult education programmes to improve their level of literacy, and become better educated on what to do when they perceive danger signs during pregnancy.

Key words: Literacy, Health Literacy, Maternal health literacy, Healthy
pregnancy, Pregnancy outcomes, Public hospitals.