The Relationship between Perceived Stress and Attitude towards Delivery and Choosing Mode of Delivery among Pregnant Women

Since choosing mode of delivery is one of the most important choices in a woman's life, the factors affecting this choice are necessary to be considered. In recent years, the effect of various psychological factors on attitude towards delivery has been considered. One of these factors is the mother's perceived stress. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between perceived stress and attitude towards delivery and choosing mode of delivery among pregnant women.
This prospective cohort study was conducted among 305 pregnant women who were at week 32 of their pregnancy or above who referred to selected health centers of Ahvaz in 2016. "Demographic information", "Perceived stress" and "Attitude towards mode of delivery" were collected using a questionnaire. Perceived stress score was from zero to 56 (higher score indicates higher perceived stress), and attitude towards delivery score was from 68 to 204 (higher score indicates more positive attitude towards delivery).
FINDINGS: The mean perceived stress score in subjects with positive, neutral and negative attitudes toward delivery were 27.08±10.86, 25.70±8.82 and 22.36±15.14, respectively, and in women with virginal and cesarean deliveries were 26.45±10.18 and 25.24±10.44, respectively. There was no significant correlation between perceived stress and attitude towards delivery (p=0.22) and choosing mode of delivery (p=0.49).
The results of the study showed that there is no relationship between perceived stress and attitude towards delivery and choosing mode of delivery.