The effect of stress inoculation training on anxiety and quality of sleep of pregnant women in third trimester

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) on anxiety and quality of sleep of pregnant women in third trimester.  Materials and Methods: This clinical trial conducted in a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. In this study 40 pregnant women were selected by cluster sampling from those referred to Nabi-e-Akram and Me�raj health centers of Bushehr city in the winter of 2013, who were at 31 or 32 weeks of pregnancy, and fulfilled the required research criteria. Then they were randomly allocated to one of the experimental or control groups. After the pre-test, the experimental group was subjected to 7 sessions of SIT training. Data were collected using Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Questionnaire (PSQI). Data were analyzed by t-test, covariance analysis and SPSS 16 software. Results: The results showed a significant decrease in the post-test mean scores of anxiety and sleep disorder in the experimental group compared to the pre-test and control group (P=0.01). The findings support the effectiveness of SIT in relieving anxiety and sleep disorder in pregnancy. Conclusion: It seems that the use of psychological interventions such as stress inoculation training can reduce distress and improve women's health during pregnancy.