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Beliefs Regarding Weight Gain during Pregnancy among Participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
Author(s) -
Koleilat Maria,
Vargas Nancy,
Pelina Aaron,
Bell Sean,
Whaley Shan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.395.5
Subject(s) - weight gain , pregnancy , medicine , overweight , psychological intervention , obesity , obstetrics , gestation , pediatrics , body weight , psychiatry , genetics , biology
Very few qualitative analyses exist on low‐income women's beliefs regarding the consequences of pregnancy weight gain. The objective of this study was to examine the beliefs of pregnant WIC participants regarding the consequences of excessive and too little weight gain during pregnancy. This is a secondary data analysis of data collected for a prospective intervention study to reduce excessive gestational weight gain among WIC participants. Participants were asked to provide their opinion on the effects of gaining too much or too little weight during pregnancy. Overall, women in this analytical sample (N=515) were aged 28.5±6.1 years. The sample was largely Hispanic (66%) and 63.1% of the women were either overweight or obese. When asked about the effects of excessive gestational weight gain, only 15.3% mentioned neonatal complications while 57.9% mentioned maternal complications. In contrast, when asked about the consequences of too little weight gain, 48.4% of women mentioned neonatal complications while 12.8% mentioned maternal complications. Overall, participants lacked knowledge on neonatal complications of excessive gestational weight gain. Our findings support the need for educational interventions to improve knowledge about the effects of excessive and too little weight gain among pregnant WIC participants. Such interventions may be beneficial to achieving appropriate weight gain during pregnancy. This research is supported by UCLA Subaward No. 1920 G QA126.