The Assessment of the Theory of Planned Behavior Structures on Nutritional Prophylactic Treatment of Anemia in Pregnant Women of Arak City in 2018

Background and Aim: Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to assess the theory of planned behavior structures on nutritional prophylactic treatment of anemia in pregnant women of Arak city in 2018. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out on 199 pregnant women in Arak city using simple random sampling in 2018. The data were gathered with valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire including demographic information and the theory of planned behavior structures. The study was conducted to determine the most important predictive constructs of pregnant womens’ behavior using a multivariate linear regression model. Findings: The finding showed that mean age of mothers was 28.81 ± 5.1 years and the mean weekly gestation was 28.04 ± 8.9 weeks and the gestational interval with previous pregnancy was 5.18 ± 3.9 years. Mean±standard deviation of attitude score (3.61 ± 0.62), subjective norm (3.60 ± 0.74), perceived behavior control (3.50 ± 0.58), behavioral intention (3.49 ± 0.61), performance (3.55 ± 0.76) and awareness (0.57±0.2) were observed. Linear regression model showed that the performance score of pregnant women improved for each unit of attitude and subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, respectively, by 0.463, 0.343 and 0.347, respectively. Conclusion: The results emphasize the provision of educational programs on the prevention of anemia in pregnant women with an emphasis on attitudinal structures, mental norm, and perceived behavioral control. It is suggested that at the time of designing interventions to improve the prevention of anemia in pregnancy, the structures of the theory of planned behavior should be considered.