READINESS FOR SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING IN WOMEN DURING THE FOUR STAGES OF PREGNANCY.
Contributors: University of Missouri--Kansas City.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 125
Subjects: Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.
Description: Self-directed learning is a major component of adult education and adults are highly motivated to learn as they seek to accomplish developmental tasks. Pregnancy has been identified as a mechanism which women may choose as they seek to attain the developmental tasks of early adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the readiness for self-directed learning (SDL) in women during the four trimesters of pregnancy using the Self-directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) Scale. A quota sample was comprised of seventy-nine women who received health care at either a public or private facility.

The SDLR Scale was administered immediately following the obtainment of informed consent. The data were analyzed using Analyses of Variance. No statistically significant differences were found in SDLR among women regardless of the stage of pregnancy. However, SDLR in women peaked during the second trimester and declined through the third and fourth indicating a trend in SDLR in women during pregnancy. When determining the effects the demographic variables had on SDLR, no significant differences were found for race, institution in which health care was received, maternal age, parity, employment status, planned versus unplanned pregnancy, or knowledge regarding the sex of the infant based on prenatal testing. Significant differences were found in the SDLR among women with different educational levels (p =.02). The women who had post high school educational backgrounds had higher SDLR scores than women with high school or less than high school educations.

All women in the study scored higher than the 50th percentile based on national norms. Those women with post high school education and women in the second trimester of pregnancy scored approximately at the 80th percentile, one standard deviation above the mean. Based on the results of this study, women during pregnancy do possess high tendencies for self-directed learning and a trend may exist for higher degrees of self-directed learning readiness during the second trimester. Educators should consider women's readiness for self-directed learning in order to facilitate attainment of developmental tasks when establishing prenatal or postnatal education classes. The classes should be offered at a time when women are most ready to learn. Additional studies need to investigate the appropriate time to offer specific content throughout the pregnancy process.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: A, page: 2496.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI - KANSAS CITY, 1988.

School code: 0134.