Coping Strategies and Perceived Stress in Pregnant Smokers Seeking Help for Cessation

Abstract

Despite substantial efforts to decrease its prevalence, it is estimated that more than 20% of French women continue to smoke during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess the perceived stress and coping strategies used by pregnant smokers when they seek help to stop smoking. Eighty pregnant women were involved. Pregnant women who stated their intention to quit smoking (n= 40) were compared with pregnant nonsmokers (n= 40). All participants filled out the Brief Cope (BC), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). In addition to these self-report scales, pregnant smokers completed the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ). The results show that pregnant women who smoked used less active coping, planning, and positive framing, considered a good adaptive strength, and had significantly elevated scores on perceived stress and anxiety scales than nonsmokers. This research is the first to provide Brief Cope results for pregnant smokers seeking help to stop smoking linked to perceived stress. The results obtained contribute to the well-known psychosocial factors in maintaining smoking during pregnancy and will be used in the implementation of more effective intervention programs among pregnant women.

Social and Environmental Factors Related to Smoking Cessation among Mothers: Findings from the Geographic Research on Wellbeing (GROW) Study

“…Perceived stress is among the most consistent predictors of smoking 15,28,31,88–93 and cessation. 20,25,28,39,93–97 Among women in particular, perceived stress has predicted time to relapse, 96 smoking prevalence and failure to quit among peripartum women, 25,28,31 and women not in the peripartum period. 20,89 In contrast, few studies have failed to find an association between perceived stress and smoking behavior among women.…”

Impact of COVID-19 Related Maternal Stress on Fetal Brain Development: A Multimodal MRI Study

“…Understanding the impact of pandemic related maternal stress on fetal development allows us to identify risk and resilience factors to mitigate maternal stress and consequently minimize the intergenerational effect of pandemic related stress. Coping behaviors, in response to stressful events, are known to be modifiable targets to mitigate maternal stress and anxiety [17,18]. Given the extraordinary nature of pandemic related stressors, there is little information on various coping behaviors that pregnant women have adopted during the pandemic [19][20][21].…”

Impact of COVID-19 related maternal stress on fetal brain development: A Multimodal MRI study

“…Understanding the impact of pandemic related maternal stress on fetal development al-lows us to identify risk and resilience factors to mitigate maternal stress and consequently minimize the intergenerational effect of pandemic related stress. Coping behaviors, in response to stressful events, are known to be modifiable targets to mitigate maternal stress and anxiety [17,18]. Given the extraordinary nature of pandemic related stressors, there is little information on various coping behaviors that pregnant women have adopted during the pandemic [19][20][21].…”