Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the long-term (6- and 12-month) effects of the Strong Healthy Women intervention on health-related behaviors, weight and body mass index (BMI), and weight
gain during pregnancy. Strong Healthy Women is a small-group behavioral intervention for pre- and interconceptional women designed
to modify key risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes; pretest–posttest findings
from a randomized, controlled trial have been previously reported. The following questions
are addressed: 1) were significant pretest–posttest changes in health-related behaviors
(previously reported) maintained over the 12-month follow-up period; 2) did the intervention
impact weight and BMI over the 12-month follow-up period; and 3) did the intervention
impact pregnancy weight gain for those who gave birth during the follow-up period?
Methods
Data are from 6- and 12-month follow-up telephone interviews of women in the original
trial of the Strong Healthy Women intervention (n = 362) and from birth records for singleton births (n = 45) during the 12-month follow-up period. Repeated measures regression was used
to evaluate intervention effects.
Main Findings
At the 12-month follow-up, participants in the Strong Healthy Women intervention were significantly more likely than controls to use a daily multivitamin
with folic acid and to have lower weight and BMI. The intervention’s effect on reading
food labels for nutritional values dropped off between the 6- and 12-month follow-up.
Among those who gave birth to singletons during the follow-up period, women who participated
in the intervention had lower average pregnancy weight gain compared with controls.
Although the intervention effect was no longer significant when controlling for pre-pregnancy
obesity, the adjusted means show a trend toward lower weight gain in the intervention
group.
Conclusion
These findings provide important evidence that the Strong Healthy Women behavior change intervention is effective in modifying important risk factors for
adverse pregnancy outcomes and may improve an important pregnancy outcome, weight
gain during pregnancy. Because the intervention seems to help women manage their weight
in the months after the intervention and during pregnancy, it may be an effective
obesity prevention strategy for women before, during, and after the transition to
motherhood.
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Biography
Carol S. Weisman, PhD, is a sociologist and health services researcher with a principal interest in women’s health care.
Biography
Marianne M. Hillemeier, PhD, MPH, is a sociologist/demographer with research interests in maternal and child health disparities.
Biography
Danielle Symons Downs, PhD, is an exercise psychology researcher whose expertise is in understanding the psychosocial and behavioral correlates of exercise in women and children.
Biography
Mark E. Feinberg, PhD, is a psychologist whose research focuses on family and community prevention programs.
Biography
Cynthia H. Chuang, MD, is a general internist with research interests in reproductive health care for women with chronic medical conditions.
Biography
John J. Botti, MD, is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who cares for women with increased risks for adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Biography
Anne-Marie Dyer, MS, is a biostatistician and the data manager and chief data analyst for the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Health Study.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 03, 2011
Accepted:
March 21,
2011
Received in revised form:
March 21,
2011
Received:
January 17,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
