The adaptation to pregnancy in Taiwanese women who experience different severities of nausea and vomiting

The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine the relationships and the differences among perceived stress, social support and maternal psychosocial adaptation in Taiwanese women with mild and less, moderate, and severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy from the 6th to 16th completed week of gestation; and (2) explore the predictive relationships of the nausea and vomiting experience, perceived stress, and social support to maternal psychosocial adaptation in Taiwanese pregnant women. A nonexperimental, correlational research design was used. A convenience sample was recruited from prenatal clinics in Taiwan. Five measurement instruments were used in this study: the Demographic Inventory (DI), the Index of Nausea, Vomiting, and Retching (INVR), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), and the Prenatal Self-Evaluation Questionnaire (PSEQ). Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 9.0 for Windows. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regression. A total of 102 pregnant women participated in this study. Most of the subjects had pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting (75.5%). Based on the INVR scores, 60.8% of the subjects had mild and less pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting (score range of 0 to 8); 28.4% had moderate pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting (score range of 9 to 16); and 10.8% had severe pregnancyinduced nausea and vomiting (score range of 17 to 28). There were no significant differences between the INVR scores and occupation, parity, gravidity, education level, or socioeconomic level using t-test and one-way ANOVA. There were significant positive correlations between severity of nausea and vomiting and perceived stress, and perceived stress and maternal psychosocial adaptation scores. Age was also positively associated with social support. There were significant negative correlations between perceived stress and social support, and social support and maternal psychosocial adaptation scores. Findings for the stepwise multiple regression revealed that perceived stress and social support were the two significant predictors of maternal psychosocial adaptation during pregnancy, accounting for 46.3% of the variance. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the relationships among perceived stress, social support, and maternal psychosocial adaptation in women who experience nausea and vomiting during pregnancy in the Taiwanese culture. The study indicated that women with severe pregnancyinduced nausea and vomiting perceive higher stress. And, decreased perceived stress combined with more social support might assist women to have a good adaptation. Therefore, knowledge of the findings can be applied to nursing practice to improve maternal psychosocial adaptation among pregnant women in Taiwan.