Study On The Relationship Among Psychological Stress, Anxiety, Depression And Social Support Of Late Trimester Pregnant Women In Changsha

Objectives To investigate the psychological stress, anxiety, depression and social support for the women in their late pregnancy; To explore the factors that related to anxiety and depression of them; To study correlation among these women's psychological stress, anxiety, depression and social support.Methods A descriptive survey was used in this study. There were 615 women in their late pregnancy were randomly enrolled from October 2009 to January 2010,which from six hospitals of Changsha, such as Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha Central Hospital, the Third Hospital of Changsha, the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hunan Province and the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Changsha City.The instruments of this survey were self-documenting items from these women, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, Pregnancy Pressure Scale and Social Support Rating Scale. The database was set up in SPSS 16.0. Statistical description, t-test, One-Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation and Multiple Linear Regression tests were performed.Results 1. The average psychological stress level of these women in their late pregnancy was mild, of which median score was 0.50. Statically 2.1% of them showed no psychological stress,73.4% of them showed mild stress,22.9% showed moderate stress, and 1.6% showed severe stress. The main stressor of these women was "whether their children would be attractive", of which has accounted for 72.2%, and the secondly stressor was "worrying about the way of their children's foster", of which percentage was 71.2%, then the similar percentage as "worrying about if their children would affect the parents'relationship", finally "worrying about the children's gender "came to the fourth place, which was 66.6%.2. The SAS showed that the average anxiety score of the women in their late pregnancy was 44.23±9.23. In the mean time, the SDS displayed the average score of depression of was 51.78±11.20. Both scores were higher than normal. Statically 39.0% of them showed no anxiety,52.7% showed mild anxiety,8.0% showed moderate anxiety, and 0.3% showed severe anxiety. Besides,41% of these pregnant women showed no depression,34.1% showed mild depression,22.9% showed moderate depression, and 2.0% showed severe depression.3. The study showed that some factors have contributed the anxiety and depression level of the women in their late pregnancy, such as the women's education level, family income, payment method, job, the frequency of pregnancy, smoking and drinking.There were four items from the Pregnancy Pressure Scale correlated with the anxiety and depression of these women. The item 2, "stressor arisen about the health and safety of mother and her child" was the main factor that influenced the degree of anxiety and depression, while the item 3 "stressor caused by the fear of changing of physical appearance and activity was the secondly factor.4. The total score of social support for them was 40.68±6.30. Among three dimensions of SSRS, the subjective support score of the women was highest, which was 23.57±3.76, and the support employ score was the lowest, which was 8.00±1.85.The total score of the social support was found negatively correlated with these women's stress level. The correlation coefficient score was -0.280 between the total score of social support and the dimensions of Pregnancy Pressure Scale. The correlation coefficient between subjective support and the Pressure Item 1 was -0.297, which was higher than any other correlation coefficients of other dimensions. What's more, the total score of social support, subjective support and objective support were negativly correlated with the degree of anxiety and depression of the late pregnant women. It could be concluded that the more social support to the pregnant women, the lower level of their psychological stress, anxiety and depression, especially depression level, and vase verse.Conclusions 1.The psychological stress'average level of the women in their late pregnancy was mild, "stressor caused by worrying the health and safety of mother and her child" was the main psychological stressor for these pregnant women. While "Whether their children would be attractive" was the main factor affecting these women's stress level.2. The average score of anxiety and depression of the women in their late pregnancy was higher than normal, and 52.7% showed mild anxiety, 8.0% showed moderate anxiety,0.3% showed severe anxiety. Besides, 34.1% showed mild depression,22.9% showed moderate depression, and 2.0% showed severe depression. The women's education background, family income, job, the frequency of pregnant, smoking and drinking, the psychological stress of pregnancy, insufficiency of social support and having a cold during the pregnancy were factors influencing the degree of anxiety and depression of the late pregnant women.3. The psychological stress was the main factor affecting the anxiety and depression level of women in their late pregnancy.4. The more social support to the pregnant women, the lower degree of their psychological stress, anxiety and depression, especially the degree of depression, and vise versa.