Prenatal education evaluation

Prenatal classes are commonly offered by hospitals with obstetrical units. To evaluate their effectiveness in one hospital, the relationship between the amount of medication used by women during labor and the birth weight of their infants following participation in one of three treatment groups was determined by a multivariate nonorthogonal analysis of covariance design. Women who attended a prenatal class program, it was found, required significantly less medication during labor than women exposed to other structured programs during pregnancy. There were no significant differences in birth weights among the infants born to women in the study. These findings, consistent regardless of age, race, and parity, suggest the value of prenatal education in reducing levels of medication required by women during labor.