Impact of a digital educational program on the health literacy and perceived drug teratogenic risk of diabetic pregnant women attending a Malaysian teaching hospital

Authors

Sami Al-Shakhshir
Syed Azhar Sulaiman
Mohd Pazudin Ismail
Mahmoud S. Alhaddad
Yaser Mohammed Al-Worafi
Islam M. Ashram

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjectives: The study aimed to identify the impact of clinical pharmacist’s digital educational program on health literacy and drug teratogenicity risk among Malaysian diabetic pregnant women. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was undertaken at the antenatal clinic at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) in Malaysia. The study was carried out with 138 diabetic pregnant women who were conveniently interviewed to measure their health literacy and teratogenic risk perceptions before and after educational program which was conducted using WhatsApp application. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using SPSS version 22. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Most participants had an unplanned pregnancy 59.4% and were in the last trimester 52.9%. While no significant improvements in health literacy were noticed, a slight increase in the percentage of participants with high level of health literacy was noticed after the intervention which increased from 20.1% to 29%. Furthermore, the familiarity and ability to classify the drug teratogenicity risk correctly were significantly improved among participants. Conclusion: The study showed that using digital technology for delivering an educational program was an effective method to improve drug teratogenicity risk among diabetic pregnant women. However, improving the health literacy level may need many comprehensive educational courses.

DOI

10.56808/3027-7922.2646

First Page

614

Last Page

621

Recommended Citation

Al-Shakhshir, Sami; Sulaiman, Syed Azhar; Ismail, Mohd Pazudin; Alhaddad, Mahmoud S.; Al-Worafi, Yaser Mohammed; and Ashram, Islam M. (2022) "Impact of a digital educational program on the health literacy and perceived drug teratogenic risk of diabetic pregnant women attending a Malaysian teaching hospital," The Thai Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences: Vol. 46: Iss. 5, Article 15.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56808/3027-7922.2646
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/tjps/vol46/iss5/15