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). 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. Introduction Literacy refers to capacity to read, read and have basic numeric skills (the three Rs'). However, it has moved away from this simple definition to one that accounts for complexity, culture, individual empowerment and community development (Kickbusch, 2001). In health care settings, literacy is regarded as health literacy, which refers to the ability to read, understand and act on health care information, or capacity to obtain, interpret and understand basic health information and services to enhance health.