Page 38 - Zero for nine: Reducing alcohol use during pregnancy via health counselling and Internet-based computer-tailored feedback

Chapter 2
Questionnaire for Pregnant Women
Pregnant women’s predisposing factors were measured by four items assessing demographics: age, education (1 = Low: primary school/basic vocational school; 2 = Medium: secondary vocational school/high school degree; 3 = High: higher vocational school/college degree/university degree), income (1 = €850 or less; 2 = €850 to €3500; 3 = more than €3500), and marital status. Three items assessed pregnancy characteristics: first pregnancy (0 = no; 1 = yes), number of weeks pregnant, and complications in previous pregnancy (0 = no/not applicable; 1 = yes). Four items assessed alcohol use and cigarette smoking before and during pregnancy (0 = no; 1 = yes).
Information factors were measured by one item, which acquired as to whether the midwife had or had not given alcohol abstinence advice (What advice regarding alcohol consumption did you receive from your midwife? 0 = no advice/advice to drink only small amounts of alcohol/ different advice/I don’t know; 1 = advice to abstain from alcohol).
Awareness factors were measured by questions relating to knowledge and risk perception. Knowledge was measured by nine statements (0 = false/don’t know; 1= true) relating to the harmfulness of alcohol consumption during pregnancy (e.g. Alcohol use during pregnancy can lead to brain damage of the unborn child). A total knowledge score was calculated by adding the number of items that were correctly answered. Risk perception was measured by two items: perceived likelihood that the baby would experience harm (1 = very low; 5 = very high); and perceived severity of harm to the baby (1 = not serious; 5 = very serious) resulting from prenatal consumption of one standard glass of alcohol (that is, 10 grams of alcohol) per month.
Motivational factors were measured by questions pertaining to attitude, social influences and self-efficacy. Participants’ attitude toward not drinking alcohol during pregnancy was assessed using 13 items, which were measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = fully disagree; 5 = fully agree). Six questions measured the advantages of not drinking alcohol during pregnancy (e.g. Not drinking alcohol in pregnancy is better for
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