Locus of Control and Self-Efficacy Behaviors among Premarital Egyptian Women: An Approach towards Impact of Preconception Educational Interventions

Background: Preconception care interventions are directed toward the promotion of women’s health and well-being before pregnancy.

Aim: To evaluate an educational preconception program on empowering the Egyptian premarital women with the concept of self-efficacy and locus of control behaviors.

Methods: A quasi-experimental, quantitative, (pre/ post one group) research design was used with 84 premarital females recruited conveniently from five primary health care centers located at Port- Said City, Egypt. Data collection: By using 2 main tools which were locus of control scale, and the self-efficacy of diet and physical exercises used to assess self-efficacy of adults for diet (fat, salt) and exercise.

Results: Total mean of women age was 23.26 ± 4.2, majority were bachelor’s degree of education, and unemployed. A highly statistically significant difference was reported between pre and post total mean score of internal and external locus of control, self-efficacy of eating healthy foods and motivation behavior related physical exercises at p-value < 0.000.

Conclusion: The application of preconception educational intervention had a positive effect on empowering a sense of locus of control and self-efficacy behaviors among studied participants, which evidenced by a statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test of multidimensional locus of control through improving their self-efficacy regarding eating and exercises.

Recommendation: Incorporate of preconception educational programs to be an integral part of the services provided by PMCs and to ensure the dissemination of information related to locus of control behaviors, healthy lifestyles and motivation behavior of regular physical exercises that warrant the improvement of reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes for future Egyptian mothers.