Evaluation of factors affecting the sense of coherence in women during pregnancy: A prospective pilot study

Pregnancy is a special time in the life of a woman, which induces many changes not only in the biological, but also in the biopsychosocial dimension.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the factors affecting the sense of coherence (SOC) among women during pregnancy. It was hypothesized that a high SOC will depend on a high level of received support, lack of the risk of mental disorders in the perinatal period and physiological course of pregnancy.

Factographic material was collected by a diagnostic survey method. As a 1st research tool, the Polish adaptation of the Sense of Coherence - Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) was used. Another research tool was the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), used here for pregnant women and therefore called Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS).

We analyzed the data of all 200 women with physiological pregnancies and 200 women with complicated pregnancies from whom a complete valid responses were obtained. All women were aged between 18 and 36 years. Significant predictors of low SOC results in the model were: age (odd ratio [OR] = 0.929, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.870-0.992, p = 0.0280), being multipara (OR = 1.996, 95% CI 1.271-3.135, p = 0.0027), having never/occasionally husband/partner support (OR = 1.978, 95% CI 1.070-3.656, p = 0.0295), and EDS results (OR = 1.312, 95% CI 1.169-1.472, p = 0.0000).

Predisposing factors for the occurrence of a low rate of SOC in pregnant women are: lower age, multiparity, lack of social support, especially from the husband/partner, and the risk of depression during pregnancy. This may result from the fact that a strong SOC develops in the process of socialization, and with age we acquire the ability to accurately assess reality.