The Effect of Education Based on Theory of Planned Behavior in Promoting Nutrition-related Behaviors to Prevent Anemia in Pregnant Women

Background and Aim: Iron deficiency is among the most prevalent nutritional problems during pregnancy. Besides, it can significantly affect pregnant women’s health. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of education based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on promoting anesthetic prevention nutritional behaviors in the pregnant woman. Methods & Materials: This was an educational randomized controlled trial study. In total, 80 pregnant women were randomly divided into two groups of test and control (n=40/group). Data collection with reliable and validity questionnaire consist of demographic factors, knowledge, the construct of TPB (attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, intention), and performance. Before performing the intervention, pre-test data were collected from the study groups. Then, the educational intervention was performed based on the results of the needs assessment for the test group, within a month and in the form of four 60-minute training sessions based on the TPB. The results were collected 3 months after the intervention and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-squared test, and correlation coefficient. Ethical Considerations: The present study was registered with the code IRCT2017052334106N1 in the Clinical Trial Registration Center of Iran and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Arak University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.ARAKMU.REC.1395.445). Results: The present research results indicated that before the intervention, all variables were the same in the study groups. However, after the intervention, the research groups significantly differed concerning all the studied structures (P