Comparison of psychological distress, emotional regulation difficulties and distress tolerance in pregnant women with and without thyroid gland disorders

Considering the sensitivity during pregnancy for mother and baby, as well as the importance of investigating and controlling the consequences of thyroid gland dysfunction in pregnant women, the aim of this study is to compare psychological distress, emotional regulation difficulties and distress tolerance in pregnant women with and without thyroid gland disorders.

The research method was causal-comparative. The statistical population was all pregnant women who referred to Shariati Hospital and health centers in Bandar Abbas city, and from this population, 92 pregnant women with and without thyroid gland disorder were selected by purposive sampling method (46 participants with thyroid disorder and 46 participants without disorder). The research tools included: Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (KPDS-10), Emotional Regulation Difficulty Scale (DERS-36) and Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS-15). The method of data analysis was multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

The results showed that psychological distress and emotional regulation difficulties in pregnant women with thyroid gland disorders are significantly higher than pregnant women without thyroid gland disorders (p<0.01), and distress tolerance is less in them (p<0.05).

According to the results, educational and therapeutic plans, individually and in groups, for pregnant women with thyroid gland disorder, can be among the strategies of attention of health centers related to the health of pregnant women.