engleski

Effects of self perception and social support on the perception of stress in pregnancy and labour

Pregnancy and labour are states of increased stress caused by biological and psychological changes in women. The first symptoms of pregnancy are physiological, but very soon the psychological adaptation of a woman to new era in her life and preparations for parenthood take place. Emotional difficulties are not of equal intensity in different stages of pregnancy. There are also individual differences in adaptation, tolerance, perception and reactions to psychological stress. Numerous factors influence the perception of stress during pregnancy and labour. This paper analyses several factors with the aim of defining those that were statistically significant and can be influenced upon. The aim of this research was to establish those aspects of self-perception and social support that are related to the perception of stress during pregnancy and labour, and whether participation of partner in labour influences perception of stress in pregnant women. The research was undertaken with 69 pregnant women with normal pregnancies in the last trimester and immediately after labour. The average age of subjects was 27.4 years +/- SD. Most women were in their first pregnancy (67.4%). The following self-evaluation scales were used: STAI-X, PSS-scale of percepted stress, the scale of externalisation, the scale of perception of social support, and bi-polar self-perception scales of emotional stability, extroversion and bodily appearance. The statistics of results was done in SPSS. The results showed the anxiety of pregnant women as a significant positive predictor for the percepted stress during pregnancy (p<0.001). Bodily appearance and partner's support significantly reduced the perception of stress in labour (p<0.01), irrespectively of partner's presence during labour. Partner presence during labour significantly reduced the perception of stress in pregnant women (p<0.03). Externality of a pregnant woman significantly reduced the perception of stress during labour with a partner present (p<0.0l), while during labour without partner's presence, extroversion significantly reduced perception of stress (p<0.05), bodily appearance (p<0.02) and perception of social support from partners (p<0.001). This paper shows the beneficial effects of partner's participation in labour, which is not a routine procedure in our country.

stress ; pregnancy ; social support ; self-perception

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