The relationship between birth fear and psychosocial health level of nausea-vomiting severity in pregnancy

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the relationship with the fear of childbirth of the severity of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and psychosocial health level. Materials and Methods: The universe of this research, which is a relational-descriptive type, was created by pregnant women who applied to the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Polyclinic in Beydağı Campus of Malatya Education and Research Hospital. Sample size when power analysis is performed; The 5% error level was determined as bi-directional significance, at a confidence interval of 99%, at least 659 pregnant women with 80% power. Data were collected by being used Personal Information Form, Pregnancy Nausea-Vomiting Severity Assessment Test (PUQE), Wijma Birth Expectancy/ Experience Scale (W-DEQ) A Version and Pregnancy Psychosocial Health Assessment Scale (PPHAS). In evaluating the data; descriptive statistics (number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, min-max) as well as one-way analysis of variance,tukey test and Pearson's correlation analysis were used. Findings: PUQE test total point average was 9.05 ± 2.30, 15.5% of the patients were mild, 77.5% of them were moderate and 7.0% had severe nausea and vomiting. The mean of W-DEQ-A total score in pregnancy was 69.97 ± 19.07 and the mean total score of PPHAS was 3.25 ± 0.30. According to PUQE Test Classification the mean of W-DEQ-A version total score was statistically different and it was found that pregnant women with severe nausea and vomiting severity had more fear of child birth than those with mild and moderate nausea and vomiting severity (p <0.001). According to PUQE Test Classification, the difference between the mean scores of "Pregnancy and Family Relationships", "Domestic Violence" and "Physical and Psychosocial Changes related to Pregnancy" of PPHAS was statistically determined to be significant (p <0.05). It was found out that there was a significant positive correlation between PUQE Test Total Point Average and fear of childbirth; and a negative correlation with psychosocial health level (p <0.05). Conclusion: As the intensity of nausea and vomiting increased in pregnancies, it was determined that birth fear increased while psychosocial health level decreased. Keywords: Nausea-Vomiting, Fear of Birth, Pregnancy, Psychosocial Health Level.