Women’s Adaptation to Pregnancy and Health Practices towards Hyperemesis Gravidarum in Turkey

 Nausea and vomiting are important pregnancy problems that are common in the first months of pregnancy and  affect daily activities and decrease women’s quality of life. Assessment of maternal adaptation and health behaviors in pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is extremely important in terms of raising the quality of care. This study was carried out to measure the adaptation to pregnancy and health practices of women with hyperemesis gravidarum.

 This descriptive study was carried out on 70 women with HG who were selected using simple random sampling between August 2016 and April 2017 in two state hospitals in Adana, Turkey. A demographic questionnaire, the Prenatal Self Evaluation Questionnaire (PSEQ) and the Health Practices Questionnaire in Pregnancy (HPPQ) were used to collect data. The data were evaluated using SPSS 22.0.

 The mean total score of PSEQ and HPPQ in women with HG was 149.7±26.8 and 116.0±14.0, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the PCEQ and the HPPQ (P=0.000/ r=-0.386), i.e. with increased women's adaptation to pregnancy, their health practices was improved.

 The results suggest that women who are hospitalized with the diagnosis of HG should be assisted with adapting to pregnancy and having routine evaluations of their health practices during pregnancy.