Prenatal education provides the necessary resources to expecting parents to enhance knowledge and promote understanding of the maternal changes and conditions commonly associated with pregnancy. Improving educational material includes adapting the presentation and dispersion of the material according to the education level of the patient/learner. This patient centered education allows for both improved comprehension and compliance with recommended pregnancy care practices. A literature review was conducted and identified that educational materials provided to patients not only in pregnancy, but other chronic health conditions, can improve their self-management ability. Improved self-management practices in turn helped decrease healthcare utilization costs. Reviewed literature included subjects such as education, healthcare utilization, self-management, and pregnancy. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project is to implement an evidence-based adaptive educational material for pregnant individuals and promote self-management during pregnancy. Some items that were included within the handout included but was not limited to pregnancy induced symptoms i.e., nausea, reflux, round ligament pain, and sleep disturbances. To do this, Michigan State University (MSU) DNP students developed a gender-neutral evidence based, educational handout for pregnant clients and their partners. The DNP students worked alongside a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) whose responsibility was to disperse the handout as well as track the amount of non-emergent calls and/or text messages received pre and post resource implementation to evaluate its effectiveness.
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