41 - RCN

35. Analysis of pregnancy worries (289)

Dolores Marin, Staff Midwife, Servicio de Obstetricia (Paritorio), Hospital De Fuenlabrada, Fuenlabrada, Spain
Co authors: Francisco Carmona, Cecilia Peñacoba & Amparo Moreno
dmarin.hflr@salud.madrid.org

Abstract:

Introduction:

Pregnancy originates great changes in women, these changes will influence the biological area, as well as the psychological and social areas. Different researches have analyzed the influence of social support, depression, anxiety or irrational thoughts on the course of pregnancy and the satisfaction with the birth of a new child. All these factors can interfere with the necessary care during required in this stage Statham developed the Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS) to measure specific pregnancy worries showing a good reliability and a strong association with anxiety and mood disturbances.

Objective:

The objective of this research is, using the CWS measure, analyze the course of worries along pregnancy and detect those causing greater disturbances to women.

Methodology Prospective descriptive design, data were collected longitudinally starting in the first trimester. The sample was composed by 104 women from the Fuenlabrada Hospital. Pregnancy worries were measured using the Cambridge Worry Scale It’s a self-report measure of pregnancy related worries and consists of 16 items.

Results:

Women show higher scores in CWS during first trimester of pregnancy (mean 2.01; SD 0.88) when compared to the third trimester (mean 1.32; SD 0.68), being this difference statistically significant. Items with the highest scores were those related to fetal health (4.10 in the first trimester; 3.21 in the third trimester) and related to labour (2.59 in the first trimester; 2.34 in the third trimester). During the first trimester women showed also high scores in the item questioning about spontaneous abortion.

Conclusions:

According to the results of the present research it would be helpful for pregnant women to elaborate an educative support system where pregnancy worries could be analyzed from the first trimester of gestation. Working in the diminution of these worries would improve pregnant women well-being and their perception of pregnancy and delivery.

Recommended reading list:

• Statham, H., Green, J.M. & Kafetsios, K. 1997, "Who worries that something might be wrong with the baby? A prospective study of 1072 pregnant women", Birth (Berkeley, Calif.), vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 223-233
• Ohman, S.G., Grunewald, C. & Waldenstrom, U. 2003, "Women's worries during pregnancy: testing the Cambridge Worry Scale on 200 Swedish women", Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 148-152
• Da Costa, D., Dritsa, M., Larouche, J. & Brender, W. 2000, "Psychosocial predictors of labor/delivery complications and infant birth weight: a prospective multivariate study", J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol, vol. 21, pp. 137-148

Source of Funding: N/A

Amount in Funding: N/A