Factors Predicting Coping of Pregnant Women Working in the Manufacturing Industry: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Pregnant women working in the manufacturing industry are at risk of experiencing stress both from pregnancy itself and from their occupation. Supporting them to cope effectively with this stress is an important role of the nurse-midwife. This cross-sectional study investigated the predictive power of job strain, pregnancy-specific stress, sense of coherence, self-esteem, religious belief, and social support in predicting coping among pregnant women working in the manufacturing industry. The participants were 288 women visiting the antenatal department of five provincial hospitals in Thailand. The research instruments were a demographic data recording form, and the Thai versions of the Job Content Questionnaire, the Revised Prenatal Distress Questionnaire, the 13-item Sense of Coherence, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Buddhist Belief Questionnaire, the Social Support Questionnaire, and the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression. The study results revealed that job strain, pregnancy-specific stress, sense of coherence, self-esteem, religious belief, and social support altogether could explain 60% of the variance in problem-focused coping and 57% of the variance in emotion-focused coping of pregnant women working in the manufacturing industry. Social support was the strongest predictorof problem-focused coping, while the sense of coherence was the strongest predictor of emotion-focused coping. The findings can be used by nurse-midwives in planning interventions to promote coping of pregnant women working in the manufacturing industry, focusing on enhancing social support and a sense of coherence and reducing pregnancy-specific stress.