Employed women who are pregnant may be at an increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, as well as postpartum depression, anxiety, and poor functional health status, if they are exposed to high levels of occupational stress during their pregnancies. The purposes of this study are to: (1) assess the effects of occupational stress, social resources and non-occupation-specific chronic stressors on employed women's prenatal and postpartum levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and functional health; (2) investigate these effects on pregnancy outcomes of both mothers and infants; and (3) examine whether these effects vary across racial categories for women within service-clerical-sales-manufacturing categories. It is hypothesized that employed women who experience fewer stressors and perceive their families, friends, co-workers, and supervisors as supportive during the last trimester of pregnancy will have lower postpartum levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, better functional health status, and better pregnancy outcomes than women who perceive more stressors and less support. A four-wave prospective panel study of 168 employed women will be conducted over a 3-year period. The women will be recruited from three obstetric clinics in Kentucky. Data will be collected during in-home interviews between 28-40 weeks gestation, via medical record reviews, and in-home interviews 4-6 weeks after returning to work postpartum, and again at 6 months after returning to work. Measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety, functional health status, non-occupation-specific chronic stressors, social support from family, friends, co-workers and supervisors, and occupational stress will be obtained. Data on pregnancy outcomes for mothers and infants will be obtained via medical record review after delivery. Data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including multivariate linear regression and logistic regression. The findings may have implications for changes in the organization of work for pregnant and postpartum women in service-clerical-sales-manufacturing positions. Occupational stress can lead to poor pregnancy outcomes, as well as mental and physical health problems, which in turn can lead to lost work time, low productivity, and increased use of health and community social services. Better understanding of how these stressors operate during pregnancy and the postpartum may have implications for policy changes that save industry and community resources, and more importantly, that improve the well-being of working mothers.
| Isaacs, Kathy B; Hall, Lynne A (2011) A psychometric analysis of the functional social support questionnaire in low-income pregnant women. Issues Ment Health Nurs 32:766-73 |
