The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioural Counselling on Pregnant Women’s Weight Gain during Pregnancy: A Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Weight gain during pregnancy has a close relationship with fetomaternal health. An increase in BMI is associated with the risk of premature rupture of membrane, placental abruption and stillbirth. Insufficient weight gain during pregnancy is also associated with small for gestational age, low birth weight and infant mortality, preterm labour, and fetal neural defects. Aim: To determine the effect of cognitive-behavioural counselling on weight gain in pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This randomised controlled clinical trial was performed in health centres of Sanandaj, Iran. Sixty-six pregnant women with gestational age of 20-24 weeks were selected and randomly assigned to intervention (n=33) and control (n=33) groups. The control group received routine care and the intervention group received 8-weekly sessions of 60 to 90 minutes counselling with a cognitive-behavioural approach in addition to routine pregnancy care. The weight of both groups was measured before, immediately and one month after the intervention using Seca Digital Scale. The collected data were analysed using repeated measures, Mann-Whitney U test and independent t-tests. Results: There was no significant difference in mean weight of mothers between the intervention and control groups before the cognitive-behavioural intervention (p=0.824), immediately after (p=0.905) and one month after intervention (p=0.989). Conclusion: Cognitive behavioural counselling did not affect the weight gain of mothers during pregnancy.

Keywords

• gestational age
• intervention
• mothers