Perceived stress and anxiety among Ghanaian pregnant women

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of stress and anxiety, as well as the association that exists between stress/anxiety and sociodemographic characteristics, among pregnant women at the Tamale West Hospital in Ghana. This study was conducted among 154 pregnant women visiting the Tamale West hospital for antenatal care, from March to May, 2015. All participants were evaluated using a Self-designed semi-structured questionnaire for socio-demographic information, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for stress assessment and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for assessment of anxiety. The response rate was 96.3%, with an age range of 17-42. Whereas 43.5% of the studied population were illiterate, 24.0% had attained basic education, 21.4% had attained secondary education while only 11.0% had attained tertiary education. Most of the studied participants were unemployed (57.8%), with a mean ± s. 1%). The mean ± s.d. of anxiety score as well as stress score from the studied population were 15.3±3.2 and 13.2±4.9 respectively. The prevalence of anxiety was 9.7% whiles that for stress among these studied participants was 28.6%. Higher proportion (26.6%) of educated women had anxiety disorders with a lower (21.9±10.8) mean gestation period being associated with anxiety disorders. Age was higher (28.1±5.8; p=0.0155) in women with pregnancy specific stress than in normal women (25.0±7.9). A higher proportion of women who were married (99.1%; 0.0097) were normal as compared to those who had pregnancy stress (90.9%). Mean number of births was seen to be higher among normal women (4.3±5.9; 0.0054) than those with stress (1.8±1.4). This study reiterates the rising levels of pregnancy specific stress and anxiety, with social and medical factors such as literacy levels, gestational period, age, marital status and parity playing major roles in the determination of pregnancy related stress and anxiety levels.

Perceived stress and its associated factors among pregnant women in Bale zone Hospitals, Southeast Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…In this study, the overall prevalence of perceived stress among pregnant women was found to be 11.6% (95% CI 8.3, 14.6). This figure is lower than the study conducted in Ireland (75.6%) [30], Saudi Arabia (33.4%) [7], India (33.3%) [1], Nepal (34.2%) [11] and Ghana (28.6%) [12]. On the other hand, it is higher than the study done in the USA (6%) [5] and Iran (5.5%) [3].…”

“…In addition, the odds of developing perceived stress is higher among pregnant women who are in early gestational weeks. This contradicts the study in Ghana where perceived stress was higher among pregnant women who are in the third trimester [12]. The possible explanation could be at the early age of pregnant women might fear the possibility of miscarriage/loss of pregnancy and the viability of the fetus.…”

“…The sample size was determined using a single population proportion formula: a proportion of stress among pregnant women as 37.4% (p = 0.374) taken from a study conducted in Ghana [12], 95% confidence interval (CI) to be 1.96, and margin of error to be 5%. Adding a non-response rate of 10%, the total sample size was 396.…”

“…Worldwide, stress is a very common mental health problem among women during their time of pregnancy [5]. Studies reported that the prevalence of stress during pregnancy range from 5.5 to 78% [5–12].…”

Stress and resilience among pregnant teenagers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

“…Pregnancy is a period of enormous biological, psychological and social challenges. It can also be a time of emotional and psychological disturbances when dealing with its new demands; hence, stress and anxiety are common during pregnancy, especially among unmarried teenagers 2 .…”