Psychosocial outcomes of pregnancy in women living with HIV in Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

HIV in pregnancy can be described as a bio-psychosocial phenomenon, as its impact is not only limited to the immune system, but also on the psychological functioning, culture and religion of individuals. Pregnant women with HIV who lack psychosocial support may experience stress, anxiety and depression that could possibly affect fetal wellbeing. This study was done to identify and measure specific psychosocial outcomes of pregnancy in 20 pregnant women with HIV in Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu over a period of six months, using a self developed instrument with 55 items named PROMO-HIV (Pregnancy outcome of mothers with HIV). The four components of specific outcome of pregnancy in women with HIV measured in this study are attitude of the women towards pregnancy with HIV, coping with pregnancy and HIV, knowledge on neonatal wellbeing and perceived postnatal quality of life. Assessment of the component 'attitude towards pregnancy with HIV' revealed only 40% of the respondents had favorable attitude towards pregnancy with HIV. For the component 'coping with pregnancy and HIV' 35% had adaptive coping and 65% had maladaptive coping. In the component 'knowledge regarding neonatal wellbeing HIV' 25% of the respondents had low, 65% had moderate and 10% had high level of knowledge regarding neonatal wellbeing. For the component 'perceived postnatal quality of life' 15% of the respondents had poor, 55% had moderate and 30% had good perceived postnatal quality of life. No significant association was found between specific pregnancy outcome components of pregnant women with HIV and selected socio-demographic data & clinical profile. Correlation analysis among the components of specific pregnancy outcome showed significant positive correlation (p<0.001). To improve the psychosocial outcomes in HIV positive pregnant women, more focus should be on psychosocial assessment and developing need based counseling interventions in order to achieve better pregnancy outcome.