THE EFFECT OF EMPOWERMENT UPON THE FOOD INTAKE AND THE HEMOGLOBIN LEVEL OF PREGNANT WOMEN IN COASTAL AREAS

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze the effect of an intervention in the form of empowerment through counseling pregnant women with anemia on changes in food intake and the Hb level in Percut Village of Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia. This was quasi-experimental research using the untreated control group design with pretest and posttest. The intervention was given to 64 pregnant women, who were divided into 2 (two) groups. Group 1 was given the intervention through empowerment, while Group 2 was the control group and did not receive any empowerment. The empowerment was given in the form of counseling on the problem of anemia in pregnant women conducted for 4 (four) meetings within 3 (three) months. The findings suggested that the group with the empowerment intervention experienced an increase in their food intake by 6,24 times higher than that of the group without the empowerment intervention. The effect of such empowerment upon the changes in the hemoglobin level of pregnant women showed an average increase by 3.89 times higher for the group with empowerment than than that of the group without empowerment. Based on the multivariate analysis using multiple linear regression, it was revealed that the variables with the most significant effect on the change in the Hb level were empowerment of pregnant women, protein intake and iron intake. Furthermore, the findings concluded that the empowerment of pregnant women would more effectively enhance the food intake and the hemoglobin level of pregnant women, which in turn may prevent anemia among these pregnant women