The Relationship between Spousal Support and Health Behaviors of Pregnant Women in Turkey

Gaining health behaviors suitable for women during pregnancy is important for the pregnant woman to complete it in a healthy way.This study was carried out to examine the relationship between spousal support and health behaviors of women during pregnancy.

This cross-sectional study was carried out on 230 pregnant women who attended a hospital in Adıyaman province, Turkey for routine care between 2019 and 2020 and were selected by random sampling method. A demographic questionnaire, Spousal Support Scale (SSS), and Health Practices in Pregnancy Questionnaire-II (HPQ-II) were used as data collection tools, which were completed through structured interviews. The Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson Correlation, and Logistic Regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

In terms of scale overall scores, pregnant women took 73.84±11.22 and 121.42±13.37 from SSS and HPQ-II, respectively, besides, a moderately significant positive correlation was found between the overall scores of the two scales (r=0.577, p= <0.001). As a result of Logistic Regression Analysis, pregnant woman’s age (OR:0.050), years of education (OR:0.102), spouse’s years of education (OR:0.081), marriage duration, number of pregnancies (OR:0.116), previous live births (OR:0.157), and prior miscarriage (OR:0.025) were found to be important risk factors for health behavior.

Spousal support during pregnancy is related to health behaviors and women with more spousal support exhibit high-quality health behaviors. Therefore, it is recommended that women during pregnancy be questioned about their spousal support and to be counseled in this regard to experience a safe pregnancy.