Psychosocial adaptation, marital satisfaction and meaning in life between women with high and low-risk pregnancies

Abstract

Pregnancy brings high hopes for the future; nevertheless, pregnant women may encounter unexpected challenges, including the diagnosis of high-risk pregnancy (HRP). Cases of HRP are still prevalent and can lead to psychopathology symptoms in the prenatal and postnatal periods. Hobfoll et al.'s (2002, 2011) Conservation of Resources (COR) theory proposes some implicit and explicit resources to help cope with adversities posed by an HRP. A meaningful life and having a good marital relationship can be the core resources in the adaptation process of pregnant women with HRP. Because to our knowledge no previous study has addressed this specific issue, in this study we examined the extent to which women with HRP differ in their experience of meaning in life, marital adjustment, and psychosocial adaptation as opposed to women whose pregnancies have not been deemed high risk. Thus, 302 hospitalized women with a diagnosis of HRP and 307 women with low-risk pregnancies in the Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic in a state hospital in Afyonkarahisar, Turkiye, participated in this study. The Prenatal Self-Evaluation Questionnaire, The Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Marital Adjustment Test were administered to all the participants. The results of a one-way multivariate analysis of variance and a series of univariate analyses with Bonferroni adjustment (alpha = 0.05/5, tests = 0.01) revealed that women with HRP felt less adapted to accepting pregnancy and motherhood roles, felt less satisfied with their marriage, had less presence of meaning, and sought more meanings. Clinicians can provide more resilience resources to these clients, such as existential care (expanding the global meaning resources and building a new meaning to this experience) and spousal support within the framework of COR theory.