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Pilot study for a preconception educational intervention for people with mobility disabilities
Melina A McCabe1, Amelia Gabor2, Jennifer Stephens3
1School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, 300 Halket Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Objectives:
To assess the feasibility and acceptability of our newly designed, tailored preconception educational intervention for people with mobility disabilities.
Methods:
A prospective pre-post pilot study to measure the feasibility and acceptability of an educational intervention for people with mobility disabilities who could become pregnant in the next five years. Before and after general health and preconception knowledge were compared using paired t-tests.
Results:
26 participants completed the study from November 2023 - July 2024. The most common diagnoses related to mobility disability were spinal cord injury (n = 9), spina bifida (n = 4), and cerebral palsy (n = 4). The intervention increased general health knowledge by 0.9 points (p = 0.13) and preconception health knowledge by 2.7 points (p = 0.025). A significant increase (1.8 points (95 % CI 0.9-2.6 points), p < 0.001) in preconception health knowledge compared to general health knowledge suggests the intervention successfully improved the targeted knowledge area.
Conclusions:
This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a preconception educational intervention tailored to individuals with mobility disabilities. This intervention holds the potential to improve health literacy, increase preconception health knowledge, and ultimately improve pregnancy outcomes among people with mobility disabilities.
