1.

DISCUSSION

This chapter attempts to discuss the findings of the study. The findings
of the present study are compared and contrasted with those of other similar
studies. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of
structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding impact of usage
of mobile phone during pregnancy among antenatal women attending
antenatal clinic in selected Hospitals, Udupi district, Karnataka.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study were to:

 assess the pretest level of knowledge regarding impact of usage of

mobile phone during pregnancy among antenatal women attending
antenatal clinic in selected Hospitals.
 find out the effectiveness of structured teaching programme in terms of
knowledge improvement on impact of usage of mobile phone during
pregnancy among antenatal women attending antenatal clinic in selected
Hospitals.
 determine the association between the pretest knowledge score regarding
impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy and selected
demographic variables.

An evaluative approach was adopted to determine the effectiveness of

structured teaching programme regarding impact of usage of mobile phone
during pregnancy among antenatal women in selected hospitals of antenatal

76
clinic. The non-probability convenient sampling technique was used to select
the study setting and purposive sampling technique to select the samples. The
tools used for the study were demographic proforma, structured knowledge
questionnaire on impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy. Data was
collected by distributing the tools to the samples.The obtained data was
analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Major findings of the study sample characteristics

Section 1: Demographic characteristics of the antenatal women

In the present study, it was found that, majority 20(40%) of the

antenatal women were in the age group of 21-25 years, whereas 14(28%) of
them were between the age group of 26-30 years, 10(20%) of them were in
the age group of less than or equal to 20 years and remaining 06(12%) of
them were above 31 years of age.
Study findings revealed that majority 36(72%) of the antenatal women
were belongs to Hindu religion, whereas 9(18%) of them were Christian,
remaining 5(10%) of them were Muslim.
It was observed that, majority 28(56%) of the antenatal women were
belongs to joint family, and remaining 22(44%) of them were belongs to
nuclear family.
Study findings shows that, majority 21(42%) of the antenatal women
had education up to secondary, whereas 13(26%) of them undergone up to
primary education level, remaining 11 (22%) of them belonged to intermediate,
and 05(10%) of them were in diploma and degree category.
 The study revealed that, majority 28(56%) of the antenatal women were
house wives, whereas 09 (18%) of them were semiskilled employees, remaining
08(16%) of them were unskilled and 05(10%) of them belonged to skilled
worker category.
It was observed that, majority 18(36%) of the antenatal women family
income ranged between Rs 3001--5000/-, whereas 11(22%) of them were
having family income above Rs 7001/- and below Rs 3000/- respectively, and
remaining 10(20%) of them had income between Rs 5001-7000/-.
Study findings revealed that, majority 33(66%) of the antenatal women
relied on only one source of health information (television), 13 (26%) of them
were receiving from two sources(newspaper and magazine), and only
04(8%) of them relied more than three sources(friends, internet, radio) of
health information.
It was observed that, majority 24(48%) of the antenatal women were in
their first pregnancy, whereas 20(40%) of them were in second gravida,
remaining 06 (12%) of them were in third gravida.
Study findings revealed that, majority 18(36%) of the antenatal women’s
gestational period ranged from 13-28 weeks, 17(34%) of them were in between 1-
12 weeks and least 15(30%) of them were at 29-38weeks.
It was observed that, majority 48(96%) of the antenatal women were
using mobile phone and only 02 (4%) of them were not demanding for
mobile phone.
Study findings shows that, majority 16(32%) antenatal women’s mobile
phone usage duration per day was 1 hour, 14(28%) were using 30 minutes per
day, 09(18%) used it for 2 hours per day, 05(10%) antenatal women’s used
for about a 15 minutes, whereas 01(02%) were using only for 10 minutes.
Study result shows that, majority (78%) of the antenatal women did not
have the base station near to their living area and only (22%) of them had
base station near to their residence.
The findings of this study is consistent with the study conducted on
maternal exposure to electromagnetic radiation during pregnancy at California,
which revealed that majority of antenatal women were in the age group of 26
-30 years, 57 percentage of antenatal women were under graduates, majority
were primipara, and 38 percentage of them were using mobile phones.

Section 2: Assessment of pre-test and post-test level of knowledge of

antenatal women regarding impact of usage of mobile phone during
pregnancy
Findings of the present study revealed that, the overall mean pre-test
knowledge score of the antenatal women regarding impact of usage of mobile
phone during pregnancy was 10.96 with a standard deviation of 3.36 and over
all post-test knowledge score of the antenatal women is 18.88 with a standard
deviation of 3.12. During pre-test, majority of 29(58%) of antenatal women
had poor knowledge, 21(42%) of them had average knowledge regarding
impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy. During post-test majority
36(72%) of antenatal women had average knowledge, 14(28%) of them had
good knowledge and none of them had poor knowledge scores regarding
impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy.
 This study is supported by the study findings among prenatally exposed
to cell phone radiation mothers, where questionnaire was administered related
to cell phone usage during pregnancy, years of regular use, amount of use
and behavioural problems of the children. Mother’s completed questions with
scaled responses very true, partly true, or not true regarding their child’s
behaviour. Results showed that 17.9% were exposed to cell phone during
prenatal and postnatal period and was found to be statistically significant at the
p<0.05.

Section 3: Findings related to effectiveness of structured teaching

programme on knowledge regarding impact of usage of mobile phone
during pregnancy
The results of the study revealed that the structured teaching programme
has helped the antenatal women to improve their knowledge on impact of
mobile phone during pregnancy. Hence the study showed that structured
teaching programme was an effective teaching strategy.
There are no supporting studies found related to structured teaching
programme on knowledge of antenatal women regarding impact of usage of
mobile phone during pregnancy.

Section 4: Area wise comparison of area wise pre-test and post-test

knowledge of antenatal women regarding impact of usage of mobile phone
during pregnancy
The mean percentage of pre test was (76%) for the risk factors, where
as in the post-test it increased to (92%). The mean percentage for other areas
like definition, specific health effects, common health effects and preventive
measures in the pre-test were 52.66%, 31.63%, 30.66%, and 29.33%
respectively where as in the post test the scores increased to 72.33%,
57.63%, 59.66%, and 62% respectively. There was a significant difference in pre-
test and post-test knowledge scores in the areas like “impact of usage of mobile
phone during pregnancy” (t49 = 10.27; P < 0.05) “definition”, (t49 =
9.12 ; P < 0.05) “risk factors”, (t 49 = 9.59; P < 0.05) “common health effects”,
(t49 = 12.77; P < 0.05) “specific health effects”, (t49 = 11.19 ; P < 0.05) “preventive
measures” thus the findings suggest that teaching programme was effective in
increasing the knowledge of antenatal women regarding impact of usage of mobile
phone during pregnancy.
There are no supporting studies found related to area wise comparison
of pre-test post-test knowledge of antenatal women regarding impact of usage
of mobile phone during pregnancy.

Section: 5 Association between pre-test knowledge score regarding impact

of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy and selected demographic
variables
The chi square test of association between pre-test knowledge score and
age in years (χ2 = 2.83, p value 0.0925), type of family (χ 2=0.187, p value
0.665), occupation (χ2=0.679, p value 0.409), income (χ 2 = 0.027, p value
0.869), (χ2 = 0.824, p value 0.364), period of gestation in weeks (χ2 = 1.058, p
value 0.3037), usage of mobile phone (χ2 = 0.364, p value 0.5463), presence of
base station near to residence (χ2 = 2.652, p value 0.1034), were not significant at
0.05 level of significance.
 Thus the above stated results reveals that pre-test knowledge score
on impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy is independent
on the above selected variables.
The chi square test of association between pre-test knowledge score
and education (χ2 = 6.28, p value 0.012), were significant at 0.05 level of
significance. The findings of this study is consistent with study conducted on
possible health risks related to mobile phone base stations in Germany
among persons aged between sixteen to twenty nine years, the results of
which showed that there was an association between age and exposure to
the mobile phone base station radiation.

Summary

This chapter dealt with the discussion of major findings of the study like distribution of
demographic characteristics among antenatal women, assessment of pre-test and post-test
level of knowledge of antenatal women, effectiveness of structured teaching programme on
knowledge regarding impact of usage of mobile phone during pregnancy, area wise
comparison of area wise pre-test and post-test knowledge of antenatal women, and
association between pre-test knowledge score and selected demographic variables