Comparative Study to Assess the Level of Stress During Pregnancy Among Employed Women and Home Makers

Abstract

Couples feel delighted once they find out that they are going to welcome a newborn in the family. During pregnancy stress is a common emotion encountered by the women. Stress can cause serious health issues among foetus and pregnant women like elevated blood pressure, premature labour, IUGR and preterm. The objective of this study was to assess and compare the perceived stress among employed and home maker pregnant women.Comparative descriptive design was used. The study was conducted among the employed and home maker pregnant women in Aarupadai Veedu Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, India. 110 pregnant (55 home maker + 55 employed women) women were selected by convenience sampling method. Modified pregnancy stress scale was used to collect the data and computed for analysis. The results of the study revealed that majority of the home maker belongs to the age group of 35 years (30.9%) and 41.8% of employed women belongs to 26-30 years. The mean score of stress among home maker pregnant women was 38.07±6.22 and among employed women it was 47.91±8.71. The mean difference was 9.84. The value of independent t-test was 6.814, significant at the level of p < 0.001. There was significant association found in the obstetrical complications, medication usage and their corresponding trimester among home maker pregnant women. Age, past obstetrical history, mode of conception and occupation were associated in employed pregnant women. It is concluded that employed women had more stress level than home makers