Determination of cardiovascular disease risk awareness in pregnant women diagnosed with preeclampsia

This study was conducted to determine the cardiovascular disease risk awareness in pregnant women diagnosed with preeclampsia. The descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between May 11 and December 11, 2022, with the participation of 72 pregnant women diagnosed with preeclampsia who met the sampling inclusion criteria and were hospitalized in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Health Practice and Research Hospital. Research data were collected using the Descriptive Characteristics Data Collection Form and the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Awareness Assessment Scale. Descriptive statistics (number and percentage distributions, mean, standard deviation, median), Independent Sample-t Test, ANOVA Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The study determined the total score average of the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Awareness Assessment Scale as 36.88  5.98. When the sub-dimension scores were examined, the mean score for "Knowledge" was 4.25  1.93; the mean score for "Perceived Heart Attack/Stroke Risk" was 15.48  3.80; the mean score for "Healthy Nutrition Intentions" was 12.28  1.90 and the mean score for "Perceived Benefits and Intentions to Change" was 4.86  1.26. A positive, moderate relationship was found between the total score of the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Awareness Assessment Scale and the "Knowledge" sub-dimension score; a positive, high relationship with the "Perceived Heart Attack/Stroke Risk" sub-dimension score; a positive, weak relationship with the "Healthy Nutrition Intentions" sub-dimension score, and a positive, moderate relationship with the "Perceived Benefits and Intentions to Change" sub-dimension score (p<0.005). In line with research data, it is recommended that nurses determine the cardiovascular disease risk awareness of women with a history of preeclampsia, create educational programs to increase the awareness level of women with low awareness and reduce their cardiovascular disease risks, provide consultancy services, develop technology-supported educational tools, or integrate existing tools into care by adapting them to the culture and health policies of the society. Keywords: preeclampsia, cardiovascular disease, awareness, nursing, perinatal care.