The Quality of Pregnant Women Life with Nausea and Vomiting

Abstract

Background and Objectives: About 50-90% of pregnant women at the first trimester of the pregnancy experience nausea and vomiting. Nausea and vomiting has deep impact on well being and daily living activities. The aim of this study has been to explore the quality of pregnant women life with nausea and vomiting. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study has been conducted on 120 pregnant women that referred to medical & health centers in Gorgan (North of Iran) during 2008. The data sampling method was purposeful. For assessing quality of life, SF-36 questionnaire and for evaluation nausea and vomiting "Rhodes scale" were applied. The data analyzed with SPSS using T-test, Chi-square, and Spearman test. Results: Quality life of 60 % of women with the average higher than 50, showed a high performance. 40% of women with the average lower than 50 had lower performance too. In terms of intensity, nausea and vomiting for 21.7% of the women were severe, 59.2% moderate, and 32.5% mild. According to Spearman test, there was a significant relationship between quality of life and severity of nausea and vomiting (r=0.04). The relationships among the quality of life, age of mother (p=0.04), education of mother (p=0.04), and academic education of husband (p=0.01) were significant. Conclusion: The quality of life only in a small percentage of the women is desirable and also the relationship between quality of life with nausea and vomiting is significant. It is essential that health care workers consider the impact of nausea and vomiting on quality of the pregnant women life and provide appropriate interventions to support pregnant mothers.

Keywords

• nausea
• vomiting
• pregnancy
• quality of life
• sf-36
• rhode scale.