Relation of psychological symptoms observed in pregnant women with socio-demographic and obstetric risk factors

The research was conducted as descriptive for the evaluation of the relation of psychological symptoms observed in pregnant women, who applied to Gynecology and Obstetrics Polyclinic in Kecioren Education and Research Hospital, with socio-demographic and obstetric risk factors. Sampling of the study was estimated by the sampling formula with known universe (N= 297). Data acquired in this study were evaluated by SPSS 20.0 package program.Pregnant Women Diagnosis Form and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were applied for data collection. Mann Whitney U Test and Bonferrony corrective Kruskal Wallis H Test were used for data evaluation. p<0.05 was used as a significance level for the evaluation of differences between the groups. In the research, anxiety was found in 14.8% of the pregnant women (6.32±4.15), and depression was determined in 28.6% of them (5.59±3.77). Based on the conducted analysis, anxiety score averages were found higher in women in the last trimester, in women with unplanned pregnancy, in women who did not feel ready for motherhood, in women who experienced fear or anxiety about labor and in women whose spouse-support and marriage unison was poor (p<0.05). Moreover, depression score averages were found higher in women with low education and income levels, in women with poor spouse-support and marriage unison, and with insufficient pregnancy and child care knowledge, in women who experienced fear or anxiety about labor, in women who did not feel ready for motherhood and who had mental illness medical history (p<0.05). In conclusion, it was determined that pregnant women were under risk for anxiety and depression and influenced by multiple factors. In this respect, it is considered to be significant that pregnant women are determined in a timely manner and followed closely and guided for treatment purposes in required cases for the health of the mother and baby. Key words; Pregnancy, anxiety, depression, psychological symptoms, risk factors