In her lecture, which came from her Ph.D. thesis, Dr. Kabakian suggested that despite the wide use of health education programs targeting women before, during and after childbirth, the effect of different educational approaches are rarely studied, especially in developing countries. Dr. Kabakian used a randomized controlled design to evaluate the impact of providing postpartum women with written educational material on their satisfaction with care, use of postpartum health services and contraception. A multidisciplinary team developed an intervention booklet, following the findings of a qualitative study on women’s information needs in the postpartum period.
The intervention improved women’s satisfaction with the postpartum period and women’s use of postpartum services. Recommendations were made for the use of evaluation studies of patient education and the regulating and standardizing of maternity services in Lebanon.