Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are an important cause of severe morbidity, long term disability and death among both mothers and their babies. The majority of deaths are avoidable through the provision of timely and effective care to the women presenting with these complications. Thus, it is important to educate the pregnant women regarding hypertension in pregnancy and promote healthy lifestyle practices. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of lecture-based intervention on hypertensive disorders in pregnancy on the knowledge and practices among pregnant mothers in selected barangays in Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay Province. METHODS: The study used a pre-post interventional design which included pregnant mothers identified as prehypertensive and hypertensive from two catchment health stations in Siay. The lecture-based intervention included information on hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and healthy lifestyle practices among pregnant women. The knowledge of the respondents was determined through a self-administered questionnaire before intervention, right after intervention and one month after intervention. A maximum score of 15 was given for the knowledge. The practices of the respondents were determined through compliance to the recommended prenatal visit according to their age of gestation after the intervention. Monitoring of the blood pressure and weight of the respondents as to recommended increase per trimester were also conducted after the intervention. Data were analyzed using ANOVA of repeated measures for the knowledge of the respondents and frequency distribution was used for the practices. RESULTS: There were 46 pregnant mothers included in the study: 40 (87%) of the respondents were prehypertensive and 6 (13%) were Stage 1 hypertensive. The result showed a significant increase (p=0.00) in the knowledge mean score from 5.11 before intervention to 10.76 to 9.83 right after and one month after the intervention, respectively. However, knowledge decay was noted one month after the intervention but still exceeds the baseline knowledge of the respondents during pre-intervention. For the practices, majority (87%) of the respondents complied with the recommended prenatal visit according to their age of gestation after the intervention. For the blood pressure and weight monitoring, results showed that all of the respondents had controlled blood pressure throughout the study. Also majority (85%) of the respondents met the recommended weight gain per trimester. CONCLUSION: The lecture-based intervention was an effective tool in improving the knowledge and prenatal practices of pregnant mothers on hypertension in pregnancy.

Keyword: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy maternal and child health siay