A psychosocial examination of feelings and thoughts about pregnancy: A qualitative study.

Abstract Background during pregnancy, which is a developmental period, there are risks that may cause pathological changes when physical, mental and social adaptation is not achieved. During antenatal appointments, it is possible to provide necessary care for pregnant women at the right time by screening for risks that threaten health. In addition to physical risk factors, psychosocial risk factors that can have significant effects on the health of pregnant women should also be included in antenatal appointments. A woman's inability to meet her needs or difficulties encountered in psychosocial areas, such as mental health, family relations, social life and job status during pregnancy, may result in mental and social problems as well as physical problems. Insufficient social support, job loss and family communication problems can leave pregnant women vulnerable to stress and cause many pregnancy complications, such as preterm labor. When problems in these areas cannot be detected at an early stage, they can threaten the life of the woman and the fetus. As such, knowledge of the specific feelings and thoughts of pregnant women from a psychosocial perspective will be useful in the evaluation of psychosocial risk factors. Purpose to determine the feelings and thoughts of pregnant women from a psychosocial perspective. Method this study used a qualitative descriptive approach to investigate pregnancy-related feelings and thoughts in a sample of 23 healthy pregnant women. Data were collected using a personal information form and a semi-structured interview form. The interviews, which were conducted using the semi-structured interview form and individual in-depth interviews, were recorded on a voice recorder. A thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Results according to the results, the mean age of the pregnant women was 30.39 (standard deviation 4.03) years, 73.9% were university graduates and 78.3% were multiparous. Three main themes (‘Pregnancy perception’, ‘Emotions in pregnancy’ and ‘Psychosocial dimension of pregnancy’) and eight subthemes emerged from the data analysis. For ‘Pregnancy perception’, the subtheme was ‘Meaning of pregnancy’. For ‘Emotions in pregnancy’, the subthemes were ‘Emotional status (mood) in pregnancy’ and ‘Fear in pregnancy’. For ‘Psychosocial dimension of pregnancy’, the subthemes were ‘Reflections of pregnancy on social life’, ‘Reflections of pregnancy on body image’, ‘Reflections of pregnancy on sexual life’, ‘Reflections of pregnancy on marital relationship’ and ‘Reflections of pregnancy on working life’. Conclusions in order to protect and maintain the health of the mother and fetus during pregnancy, it is recommended that women should be provided with the best physical and psychosocial care within the context of social and cultural structure, not only in this period but in every stage of their lives.