Quality of Life in Adolescent Pregnant Women Referred to Healthcare Centers in Arak

Pregnancy is associated with physiological and psychological changes. Pregnancy in adolescence may affect the quality of life (QoL) of young women. This study aims to investigate the QoL of adolescent pregnant women in Arak, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 217 adolescent pregnant women referred to comprehensive health centers in urban areas of Arak city in 2020 who were selected by a multi-stage sampling method. A demographic form and the QoL gravidarum questionnaire (QoL-GRAV) were used to collect information. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data and independent t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation test were used to examine the relationship between the study variables in SPSS software, version 22. Significance level was set at 0.05.

The mean age of participants was 17.86±1.42 years. Their mean total score of QoL was 1.83±0.56, which was higher than average. They had the highest score in the psychological health domain (Mean=2.01) and the lowest score in the social functioning domain (Mean=1.5). Mother's educational level, husband's educational level, economic status , and pregnancy status (unplanned/planned) according to women and their husbands had a statistically significant relationship with the QoL.

The QoL of adolescent pregnant women in Arak is higher than the average. Those with higher educational level, those with husbands having higher educational level, those with better economic status, and those with planned pregnancy have better QoL.