Abstract

Though a joyful event for most women, pregnancy is often a stressful period both physically and mentally, and pregnant women need social support from husband, family, friends, health professionals, and other important people in order to facilitate, adapt with, and obtain mental balance. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between perceived social supports and some demographic characteristics in Primigravida women. This analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted on the Primigravida women referred to obstetrics and gynecology clinics of Shahid Ayatollah Motahari and Hafez hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for receiving prenatal care in 2014. The data were gathered by demographic characteristics questionnaire and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS). Then, the data were analyzed by the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), version 20 using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multivariate linear regression analysis. The results showed that the highest and lowest mean scores were related to perceived social support from husband and perceived social support from friends, respectively. Besides, the majority of the participants had high levels of perceived social support. However, no significant correlation was found between perceived social support from husband and total perceived social support and husband’s age, pregnant woman’s age, age at marriage, and gestational age. Moreover, the results showed that husband’s education level, husband’s occupation, pregnant woman’s education level, pregnant woman’s occupation, and socioeconomic class could not predict perceived social support from husband and total perceived social support. The results of the present study revealed no significant association between demographic variables and perceived social support. This might be attributed to the fact that perceived social support is more a subjective phenomenon, and depends on an individual’s level of perception but not to the amount received.

Key words:  Pregnancy, primiparity, social support, perception.