Abstract

Background: Stress during pregnancy has serious adverse effects on both the mother and newborn. Pregnancy is an emotional, physical, and stressful event in a woman’s life that needs a huge psychological adjustment. However, this problem doesn’t get adequate attention during antenatal care in Ethiopia. Thus, this study is aimed to assess the status of perceived stress and associated factors among pregnant women during antenatal care at Gondar town governmental health institutions, northwest, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed among 425 pregnant mothers from October 25 to December 30, 2020. A systematic random sampling was used to select participants. The status of perceived stress of participants is assessed by 11 perceived stress scales (PSS 11). Data were collected using a structured pretested questionnaire. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for further analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with the status of perceived stress during pregnancy.

Findings: The prevalence of perceived stress during pregnancy was 27.1% (95% CI; 68.6- 77.2)). Antenatal care follow-up <16 weeks of 42 gestation (AOR: 4.35, 95% CI; (2.66-7.12)), not having family emotional support (AOR: 2.38, 95% CI; (1.38-4.10)), recent history of family member death (AOR: 2.06, 95% CI; (1.17-3.60)) and fear of exposure to coronavirus (AOR: 1.93, 95% CI; (1.22-3.32)) were factors that increased perceived stress during pregnancy.

Conclusions: The prevalence of perceived stress during pregnancy was high in the study area. Therefore, The ministry of health should have to promote facility based screening of pregnant mothers to determine whether they had perceived stress due to coronavirus during antenatal care or not. Assessing the level of perceived stress and provision of emotional support for pregnant women is very crucial. Pregnant women who had a positive screening test should be linked to a psychiatrist for re-evaluation and management

Keywords: Antenatal Care; Ethiopia; Gondar City; Perceived Stress

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