A Study On The Effect Of Health Education On The Stress And Coping Style Of Pregnant Women

[Objectives]To describe the pregnant stress, the anxiety and the coping style of pregnant women; and to find their correlation; to explore the effect of three different health education ways on the pregnant stress, the anxiety and the coping style of pregnant women.[Methods]A convenience sampling was employed in this study.155 pregnant women in the first trimester (less than 13 weeks gestation) were selected; who gone to a community hospital companied by their family members to have the first antenatal examination and would have their maternal health care file established in the same hospital. The 155 pregnant women were divided in three groups by random and were assessed by questionnaires at the beginning. Group 3 received routine nursing care and health education in the following antenatal examinations; group 2 received personalized heath education on the basis of group 3; the family members of the pregnant women in group 1 received health personalized education on the basis of group 2. All the 155 pregnant women were assessed again by the same questionnaires when they had their fifth antenatal examinations. The basic information and the physiological indices of the 155 pregnant women were recorded. The contents of the questionnaires consist of the basic information, the pregnancy stress scale, self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire(SCSQ). The SPSS 15.0 was used for data analysis.[Results](1) The pregnant women's pregnant stress was at the mild level when they had their first antenatal examination. "Stress form seeking safe passage for herself and her child through pregnancy, labor and delivery" was of great importance to the pregnant women. "Stress from altering body structure and body function" was ranked second. "The other item" was ranked third. "Stress from process of identifying maternal role"was ranked fourth. (2) The anxiety of the pregnant women was at mild level. The incidence of anxiety was 7.7%. The scores of anxiety of the women were positively correlated with the scores of pregnant stresses and the four factors. (3) The average scores of the active coping style(2.241±0.319) were higher than the national coping norm of adults(1.78±0.52) and the negative coping style(1.1 74±0.382) lower than the national coping norm(1.59±0.66). The negative coping style of the pregnant women had correlation with the anxiety. (4) After health education, the variations of the pregnant stress in the three groups had significant differences (P<0.05). The increase of the pregnant stress in group 3 was ranked first, group 2 ranked second, and group 1 ranked third. (5) After health education, the anxiety scores of all the three groups presented an uptrend with the growth of gestation. The three groups showed significant differences in the increase of anxiety score. (6) After health education, the variations of both of the positive and negative coping styles in the three groups had significant differences (P<0.05). The increase of the positive coping styles in group 1 was ranked the first, and group 2 ranked second. The decrease of the negative coping styles in group 1 was ranked the first, and group 2 ranked second.(7) After health education, there were significant differences in the incidence of anemia, iron deficiency and weight gain(P＜0.05).[Conclusions](1)The pregnant stress and anxiety of the pregnant women were at mild level in first trimester, and there were positive correlations in them. (2) The pregnant women could adopt the effective coping style in first trimester. (3) The pregnant stress and anxiety of the pregnant women increased with the growth of the gestation. (4) Health education contributes to the decrease of the pregnant stress and anxiety and the adoption of the effective coping style of the pregnant women. On the whole, providing health education for both of the pregnant women and their family members was superior to providing health education only for the pregnant women. (5) Health education could benefit the physical signs of pregnant women.