Correlation of Pregnancy Experience and Antenatal Anxiety among Primigravida

Abstract

Introduction: A wonderful and noble service that is bestowed on women is pregnancy. Some women enjoyed being pregnant, which found pregnancy life-changing and exciting. Most of the women may not have much problem during pregnancy, but few of them face some problems related to pregnancy and childbirth. Anxiety is believed that more than one in ten women struggle with symptoms of anxiety during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the pregnancy experience and antenatal anxiety. Methodology: The research approach was quantitative in nature. One hundred and twenty primigravida who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected using non-probability convenient sampling technique. Interview method was used and the structured questionnaire, modified pregnancy experience scale, and modified perinatal anxiety screening scale were used to collect data. Results: The study result showed that the samples had good pregnancy experience and reported mild-to-moderate level of anxiety. There was a weak positive correlation between pregnancy experience and antenatal anxiety (0.247) which was significant at P < 0.01 level of significance. Comparison among trimesters revealed that in the second trimester pregnancy event was less leading to reduction in anxiety which was the least among all the trimesters. Conclusion: Pregnancy experience and anxiety will be the major determining factor for the fetal development. Ensuring positive pregnancy experience will reduce anxiety and improve good fetal growth.