Anxiety, depression, hopelessness and perceived social support levels of women with and without threatened miscarriage

Abstract

Objective: The study was designed to investigate the the levels of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and perceived social support of pregnant women with threatened miscarriage (TM) and without TM. Material and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 167 pregnant women with TM (82) and without TM (85) who were admitted to the gynecology and obstetrics clinic of a tertiary hospital between September 2017 and 2018. The study data were collected using the Pregnant Women Information Form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The data were analyzed with percentages, arithmetic mean, Fisher's Exact test, t test, Chi Square and One-way ANOVA tests. Results: The mean BDI, BAI and BHS scores of the participants with TM (12.10±1.28, 11.82±1.38 and 9.41±0.66 respectively) were higher than those of the participants without TM (6.64±0.67, 6.51±0.60 and 4.30±0.55 respectively). The mean scores the participants with TM obtained from the MSPSS were lower than those of the participants without TM (60.28±14.93 and 66.84±8.83 respectively). Conclusions: It was determined that the pregnant women with TM had higher levels of anxiety, depression and hopelessness and lower levels of perceived social support than did the healthy pregnant women without TM. It is thought that anxiety, depression, hopelessness and perceived social support of pregnant women including those diagnosed with TM and providing them with social support would minimize their risk of developing psychosocial distress such as anxiety, depression and hopelessness. © 2020 Journal of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology. All rights reserved.