Health and Nutrition-Related Knowledge to Support a Healthy Pregnancy among Women in Their Reproductive Year

According to the CDC, nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. Current research suggests that healthy behaviors adopted by women during their reproductive years may have a major impact on pregnancy outcomes, maternal health and infant well-being. The purpose of this descriptive study was to assess the health and nutrition-related knowledge to support a healthy pregnancy among women in their reproductive years. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 313 participants. The questionnaire was adapted from Delgado (2013) and modified based on "Nutrition and Lifestyle for a Healthy Pregnancy," a conceptual framework from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The questionnaire had seven domains: (a) healthy prepregnancy weight, (b) appropriate weight gain, (c) appropriate physical activity, (d) consumption of a wide variety of foods, (e) appropriate vitamin and mineral supplementation, (f) avoidance of alcohol and substance abuse, and (g) safe food handling. Adequate knowledge in all domains was demonstrated by 37 participants (11.8%). The number of participants with adequate knowledge for each domain varied, with the most in the avoidance of alcohol and substance abuse domain (88.5%) and the least in the consumption of a wide variety of foods domain (16.6%). This study found that nutrition education is needed in order to improve their health and nutrition-related knowledge to support a healthy pregnancy, particularly on: (a) wide variety of foods, (b) safe food handling, and (c) appropriate weight gain.