Prenatal Distress and the Contributing Factors in High-Risk Pregnant Women

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to identify prenatal distress and the contributing factors in high-risk pregnant women.

METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted among 241 high-risk pregnant women at Etlik Zübeyde Hanım Health Application and Research Center in Ankara, Turkey. Sampling was performed using the simple random sampling method. Data were collected using the sociodemographic form and the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale. Data analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and posthoc test. The significance level was taken as P <.05.
RESULTS: The average age of the pregnant women was 28.61 ± 5.8 years, and the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale total mean score was found to be 29.05 ± 11.6. A statistically significant difference was found between the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale total mean scores and the variables such as pregnant women’s educational level, their income level, the place where they spent their childhood, their wanting of the pregnancy, and the number of children they had (P <.05).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: More than half of the high-risk pregnant women were found to experience distress. In addition, it was found that some sociodemographic and obstetric variables impacted the distress levels.