Participant characteristics
Table 3 presents the distribution of participants at recruitment
according to basic characteristics by intervention arm allocation. Overall, women’s age at delivery ranged
between 15 and 50 years with a median of 27 years. Most
women were educated with 50% of women having a university
degree. More than one third of the women were
employed (36.5%). Forty one percent of first time mothers
reported a household income of less than one million
Lebanese pounds. Most were primigravida (88.3%), and
nearly two thirds had planned their pregnancy. Cesarean
section rate was high - reaching 47% among the sample.
Infant gender was divided almost equally between males
(52%) and females (48%). There was no significant difference
in the baseline characteristics of participants between
the intervention arms.
Table 4 describes main health and social characteristics of
first-time mothers in the postpartum period. Few women
(18%) stated that they had a physical problem. Thirty five
percent of women were smokers but most stated that they
have stopped smoking during pregnancy.