Education in health: the influence from socio-economic-cultural of pregnant woman

Objective: to describe the socio-economic-cultural pregnant women who use outpatient prenatal care and identify the themes of education for the pregnancy and puerperal period elected by women. Methods: it’s a cross-sectional, exploratory and descriptive study. In a prenatal care from healthcare center located in Rio de Janeiro were carried out 90 semi-structured interviews with pregnant women. This study was approved by Research Ethics Committee in Health Municipal Secretariat-RJ, number of register 231/08. Results: the predominant age group (48%) was that of pregnant women 18 to 25 years, most (62%) did not complete high school and are employed in the service sector. The absolute majority (94%) have family income less than three minimum wages. The most women (76%) did not plan the current pregnancy and 33% had previous abortion. Some women were drinking alcohol (13.3%) and smoking (7.7%). Signs and symptoms of labor was the theme of education elected by the majority (56%). Conclusion: to understand the socio-economic and cultural allowed be identified vulnerabilities to the health of women. This research has great relevance to support the planning of health care. Through health education we can contribute to a good outcome of pregnancy and future pregnancies and to reduce the rates of maternal and neonatal mortality.