The effect of teaching religious principles on the infants’ growth and development
نویسندگان
1 Department of Midwifery, Maternal‑Fetal Medicine Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
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3 Department of Theology, Faculty of Humanities Science College, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran
4 Department of Midwifery, Student Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
5 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: Teaching religious principles can inevitably strengthen the mothers’ motivationand may improve the infant’s growth indices. This study aimed to investigate the effect of teachingreligious principles on the infants’ growth and development from birth up to the age of 3 months.METHODS: In a randomized controlled tria1, 84 primiparous women who had average or weakreligious attitude were randomly divided into intervention and control groups in 2013. The interventiongroup attended six 90‑min sessions of religious education held once a week. The control groupreceived the routine pregnancy care. Data were collected through physical growth indices andDenver’s questionnaire.RESULTS: A significant difference was found between the intervention and control groups regardingthe head circumference at birth (34.61 ± 1.51 vs. 32.97 ± 6.98). Besides, a significant relationshipwas observed between religious knowledge before delivery and infants’ development in gross motorskills (P = 0.047, r = 0.114) and major motor skills (P = 0.019, r = 0.359) at 1 month of age, andalso language skills (P = 0.015, r = 0.119), major motor skills (P = 0.008, r = 0.404), and fine motorskills (P = 0.035, r = 0.425) at the age of 3 months in the intervention group.CONCLUSION: Training the pregnant mothers regarding religious principles was effective in someindices of infants’ physical growth and development.
