EVALUATING THE RELATIONSHIP OF NEGATIVE MOOD AND PERCEIVED STRESS WITH DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS IN WOMEN ATTENDING FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS AND APPLICANT FOR CONTRACEPTIVE PILLS USE

Mood changes such as negative mood (depression) and stress are considered as one of the main controversial side effects of oral contraceptive pills use leading to sudden discontinuation of pills and subsequent unwanted pregnancies. The aim of this study was to assess the negative mood and perceived stress, and their relation to demographic factors in women attending to family planning clinics and applicant for contraceptive pills use. In this cross sectional study, negative mood and perceived stress were measured by the validated instruments of Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and perceived stress scale (PSS), before initiation of contraceptive pills use. Then the relation of mentioned variables with demographic factors was assessed. This study was conducted on 92 women who were recruited with continuously and convenience sampling method during three months in family planning clinics. In data analysis, analytic descriptive statistics and SPSS software were used. Using ANOVA test there were statistically significant differences in perceived stress scores mean in different groups of Body Mass Index (BMI) and obese women showed the highest perceived stress rate. In contrary, there were no significant differences between these variables and other demographic factors. Also the results showed significant relationship between mood and perceived stress. The side effects of oral contraceptive pills in addition to those of sudden stopping of taking the pills need educational and counseling programs in order to teach stress management as a healthy lifestyle.