Psychosocial predictors of antenatal stress in Pakistan: perspectives from a developing country

• Published in: BMC research notes 2020-03, Vol.13 (1), p.160-160, Article 160
• Main Authors: Waqas, Ahmed, Zubair, Muhammad, Zia, Sadiq, Meraj, Hafsa, Aedma, Kapil Kiran, Majeed, Muhammad Hassan, Naveed, Sadiq
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abortion; Adolescent; Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Decision making; Delivery, Obstetric - statistics & numerical data; Demographic aspects; Desire; Developing countries; Developing Countries - statistics & numerical data; Discrimination; Education; Family; Family Relations - ethnology; Female; Fetuses; Gender; Gender discrimination; Gender equality; Harassment; Health inequalities; Home Childbirth - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals; Households; Humans; Husband-wife relations; Marriage; Medical schools; Midwifery; Midwives; Miscarriage; Newborn infants; Obstetric treatment; Obstetrics; Pakistan - epidemiology; Personal Autonomy; Population; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - epidemiology; Pregnancy Complications - ethnology; Pregnant women; Prevalence; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Research Note; Risk factors; Rural areas; Sex discrimination; Social aspects; Social interactions; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Stress, Psychological - ethnology; Studies; Womens health; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1756-0500; 1756-0500
• DOI: 10.1186/s13104-020-05007-3

Antenatal stress is highly prevalent globally and is associated with adverse physical and psychiatric morbidities and adverse neonatal outcomes. However, the burden of antenatal stress and its psychosocial predicators have not been explored in context of the Pakistani sociocultural environment. The present study explores the prevalence of antenatal stress and its association with gender of offspring, socioeconomic background, cultural beliefs, and access to healthcare in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. There was a total of 516 pregnant women. Antenatal stress was measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The mean score of the respondents on the Perceived Stress Scale was 7.55 (3.43). A total of 218 (42.2%) respondents reported higher stress levels. Logistic regression analysis (backward method) yielded a significant model predicting high stress levels. According to it, low family income, unplanned pregnancy, increasing number of children, less autonomy in decision making, marital problems, harassment, desire to have a male offspring, and the history of birth complications, attended by midwives were associated with high stress levels.