The Role of Spirituality and Social Support in Pregnant Women's Anxiety, Depression and Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of anxiety and depression in pregnant women are traumatic factors which are associated with social support and spirituality, therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the role of spiritual and social support in the prediction of anxiety, depression and stress in pregnant women.
The method for this descriptive study was a predictive correlation design. The statistical population of the current study included all pregnant women referred to health centers of Shahid Eskandari Kalak and Shahid Turkiyan Rajaee in Karaj city in the second half of 2014. One hundred fifty five pregnant women were selected based on convenient sampling and considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data was collected using perceived social support scale, spiritual health questionnaire, depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS 42) and demographic data form. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods, including, correlation and stepwise regression were analyzed with the SPSS-22 software.
The findings of the research showed that symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress had inverse relationship with social support (r=0.14 in. .67) and spirituality (r=0.20 in. .55). The findings also revealed that family support, spirituality and the support of friends as predictor variables predict 55 percent of the anxiety's variance and family support and spirituality predict %41 of depression's variance. Finally family support predicts %18 of stres's variance in pregnant women.
The results showed that anxiety, depression and stress in pregnant women have an inverse relationship with spirituality and social support. It is recommended that social protection and spirituality in pregnant women with symptoms of anxiety and depression should be considered.