Table 2 . Findings from interventions studies among women to assess effect of health intervention programmes .
| Author, Year | Location, Study population (n) | Design and measures | Outcomes |
| Nutrition interventions | |||
| Elsinga et al. 200834 | Netherlands N = 633 (women contemplating pregnancy within 1 year) Age:18-40 |
- Randomized control trial - Knowledge on pregnancy-related risk factors and preventive measures and change in their behavior before and during pregnancy |
-Knowledge of women who received preconception counseling (PCC) exceeded that of women who did not. -After PCC, significantly more women started using folic acid before pregnancy and reduced alcohol use during the first 3 months of pregnancy |
| Guelinckx et al. 201035 | Belgium N = 115 (pregnant women) |
- Randomized control trial - Dietary habits, physical activity, gestational weight gain |
-Nutrition counseling was associated with improvements in dietary intake specifically decreased saturated fat intake, increased protein, calcium and vegetable intake |
| Steptoe et al. 200336 | London, England N = 271 (61% females aged 18-70) |
- Pre-post, parallel group randomized controlled trial -Self-reported number of portions of fruits & vegetables eaten per day |
-Consumption of fruits and vegetables increased from baseline to 12 month. -The proportion of participants eating 5 or more portions/day increased by 42% and 27% in both groups. |
| Heneman et al. 200537 | California, USA N = 38 (Females aged 20-45) |
-Pre-post, randomized participants into three-group -parallel arm study -Diet change |
-The contract group had significantly increased acceptance of vegetable consumption. -They also significantly increased fruit consumption. |
| Richards et al. 200639 | South Dakota, USA N= 437 (75% females aged 18-24) |
-Pre-post, randomized control intervention -Daily consumption of fruits and vegetables at baseline and post intervention |
-Fruits & vegetables consumption increased for intervention group. -The intervention self-efficacy scores for both FV were significantly greater. |
| Ha and Caine-Bish, 200938 | Kent, Ohio, United States N = 80 (College students aged 18-24 years, 88% females) |
-3-day food records were collected, verified, and analyzed before and after the intervention. -Consumption of: total vegetable, fresh vegetable, starchy vegetable, French fries, vegetable juice, total fruit, fresh fruit, canned fruit, and fruit juice. |
-Participants significantly increased consumption of total fruits and vegetables (P<.005). -Intake of French fries decreased significantly (P<.05). |
| Campbell et al. 200440 | North Carolina N = 307 (20% were pregnant and 50% were minorities e.g. African American and other) |
-Pre- post, randomly assigned to intervention and control -Total fat and fruit and vegetable intake, knowledge -of low-fat and infant feeding choices, self-efficacy, and stages of change. |
-Intervention group members increased self-efficacy (P< .01) and scored significantly higher (P< .05) on both -low-fat and infant feeding knowledge compared with controls. -No differential effect was observed for dietary intake variables. |
| Multiple health behavior interventions | |||
| Lombard et al. 200941 | Melbourne, Australia N = 250 (mothers of young children) |
-Randomly assigned to intervention and control -Self-reported weight (both groups), measured -weight (intervention only), self-efficacy, dietary intake and physical activity |
-Both groups decreased weight; more women lost or maintained weight in the intervention group. -Increased physical activity (P> 0.05); both groups reported replacing high fat foods with low fat alternatives and self-efficacy deteriorated in the comparison group only. |
| Lombard et al. 201042 | urban Australia N = 250 (mothers of young children) |
-Cluster randomized controlled trial -Weight change and difference in weight change between the intervention group and the control group at 12 months. -Secondary outcomes were changes in serum concentrations of fasting lipids and glucose, and -changes in dietary behaviors, physical activity, and self-management behaviors. |
Women in the control group gained weight over the 12 month Difference in the intervention group compared with the control group for total cholesterol concentration (?0.35 mmol/l, ?0.70 to ?0.001), self-management behaviors (diet score 0.18, 0.13 to 0.33; physical activity score 0.24, 0.05 to 0.43). |
| Hui et al. 200643 | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada N = 52 (pregnant women) |
-Randomized controlled trial -Physical activity and food intake |
Physical activity levels in intervention group were greater than those in control group (P<0.01). |
| Inskip et al. 200917 | Southampton, United Kingdom N = 12 445 (non-pregnant women aged 20-34) |
-Prospective cohort study -Folic acid supplement intake, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, and physical activity before pregnancy |
238 who became pregnant within 3 months of the study were only marginally more likely to comply with recommendations for those planning a pregnancy than those who did not become pregnant in this period. Women in both groups were equally likely to have recommended fruits, vegetables, and folic acid intake and drank four or fewer units of alcohol a week. |
| Liu et al. 2009 44 | Hubei, China N= 302 |
-randomized controlled trial nutrition and health knowledge, dietary behavior, health behavior and health problems during the postpartum period |
Women in the intervention groups exhibited significantly greater improvement in overall dietary behaviors such as consumption of fruits, vegetables, soybean and soybean products as well as nutrition and health knowledge than those in the control groups. The incidence of constipation, leg cramp or joint pain and prolonged lochia rubra was significantly lower in the intervention groups as compared with the control groups. |
| PA interventions | |||
| Albright et al. 200945 | N = 20 (Sedentary women) |
-Pretest-posttest design -Minutes per week of moderate and vigorous leisure time physical activity |
Significant increase in physical activity post intervention |
| Cramp and Brawley, 200647 | N = 57 (post natal women) | -Randomized, two-arm intervention design -Physical activity, barrier efficacy, and proximal outcome expectations |
Participants receiving group-mediated cognitive behavioral intervention increased their initial level of barrier efficacy and outcome expectations while participants receiving standard exercise treatment decreased (P< 0.05). |
| Fahrenwald et al. 200446 | United States N = 44 (low-income mothers enrolled WIC program) |
-Pre- post, randomly assigned to intervention and control -Stage of PA behavior change, PA behavior, selected TTM constructs, social support. |
The experimental group had greater PA behavior experimental group had greater improvements in all TTM constructs and social support, P<.001 |
| Miller et al. 200248 | N = 554 (mothers of preschool-aged children) | -Randomized controlled intervention trial -Adequate physical activity (PA), self-efficacy (SE) and partner support (PS) |
Women in intervention group were more likely to meet guidelines for PA than controls |