Prenatal care

This paper describes the psychological and psychosocial aspects of prenatal care, which are believed to be of particular importance for medical/psychological practice. The emotional changes that "normally" take place during pregnancy are surveyed and evidence is provided linking these changes with potential adverse effect on pregnancy and labour. The salience of anxiety and life stresses in pregnancy research is highlighted as well as their intricate inverse relationship with social support. Antenatal classes are offered as an example of social support provision. The different kinds of such classes and evaluation of their effectiveness are briefly presented, as well as a number of controlled trials of enhanced support during pregnancy. Finally, the effect provision of prenatal care has on women as well as their role in their own care are raised. The need is stressed for further sophisticated longitudinal and multivariate research exploring further the causative links between quality of prenatal care, pregnancy outcome, and subsequent child development.