The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling on the Empowerment of Pregnant Women Under 18 Years Old

Background & aim: One of the major problems related to maternal and neonatal health in adolescent pregnant mothers is the low level of pregnancy empowerment. It seems that using cognitive-behavioral counseling approaches can help women to further strengthen their empowerment. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of cognitive-behavioral counseling on empowerment of pregnant women under 18 years old. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was performed in 2020-2021 on 64 pregnant women aged under 18 years referred to health care centers of Khaf, Iran. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups of intervention (n=32) and control (n=32). In the intervention group, cognitive-behavioral counseling was performed in the groups with seven members during 6 sessions (two 120-minute sessions per week for three weeks). The control group received the routine care. The research tool was Kameda and Shimada Empowerment Scale for Pregnant Women (ESPW). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25. Results: In the pre-intervention stage, there was no significant difference between the mean empowerment scores in the two groups of intervention (73.87 ± 8.95) and control (72.78 ± 7.36) (P = 0.59). However, in the post-intervention stage, the mean empowerment score in the intervention group (84.25 ± 6.13) was significantly higher compared to the control group (74.44 ± 9.24) (P= 0.001). Conclusion: Cognitive-behavioral counseling was effective in improving the empowerment of pregnant women under 18 years of age participating in the present study.