Comparing the Effect of Educational Software and Booklet on Knowledge Level Regarding Labor Pain Management: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Objectives: In all parts of the world, education about pregnancy and childbirth are offered to women as part of routine care. This study aimed to compare the effect of software and booklet on knowledge regarding labor pain management. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 153 pregnant women referring to healthcare centers of Miandoab city in West Azerbaijan province, Iran in 2015-2016. Participants were assigned into 2 intervention groups (educational software and educational booklet) and the control group. A single face-to-face session was held by the researcher for intervention group on the management of labor pain in 30-34 weeks of pregnancy and booklet and software were presented. The questionnaire of knowledge of labor pain management was completed by the participants before and four weeks after the intervention. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with baseline score adjustment was used to compare the mean score of knowledge between the study groups. Results: By adjusting the baseline score, the mean score of knowledge after the intervention in both software group (mean difference = 5.5; CI 95%: 4.6 to 6.3) and booklet group (3.4; 2.5 to 4.2) was significantly higher than the control group. Also, the increase in knowledge score in the software group (2.1; 1.2 to 9.2) was significantly higher than the booklet group. Conclusion: The results show that both software and booklet are effective in improving maternal knowledge about managing the labor pain and the software is more effective than booklet, thus, it seems that e-learning can be used as replacement for traditional educational methods.