The Role of Assistance Toward Pregnant Women Against Low Birth Weight

摘要

Low birth weight (LBW) is mostly used to investigate the conditions for survival and the quality of life of children. The study aimed to assess the role of assistance toward pregnant women in the risk of children with LBW. This is part of operational research entitled "Development of Model for Assisting Pregnant Women in Increasing the Use of Maternal and Child Health Services" carried out in 7 districts/cities in Indonesia. The study design was quasi-experiment where two primary health centers (puskesmas) were selected for each district/city as a control and treatment group. The study population was all pregnant women living within the area of selected puskesmas. A sample of 40 pregnant women were included from each puskesmas so the total sample was respectively 280 women, both in the treatment and control group. Assistance was carried out by midwifery students of Health Polytechnic located in the same region of study locations. The dependent variable was the incidence of LBW while the independent variables were age, mother and father's education, mother and father's working status, the pre-pregnancy weight of mother and gestational age at delivery. The logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of student assistance on the risk of LBW. The results showed that there was nearly 6.5 percent of children with LBW. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that pregnant women who were not assisted by the students had 2.60 times higher risk of having a baby with LBW compared to those who were assisted [OR: 2.60; 95% CI: 1.13-5.99]. Therefore, the student assistance for pregnant women is highly recommended to reduce the risk of LBW.