BIRTHWEIGHT OF INFANTS RELATED TO PSYCHOSOCIAL PROFILES OF MILITARY MOTHERS.
Contributors: University of Utah.
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 198
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery.; Women's Studies.; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology.; Psychology, Social.
Description: The study was a prospective exploratory investigation of pregnant women on active duty in the military and infants' outcomes at birth. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between specific prenatal variables and their pregnancy outcomes, including birthweights of newborns. Independent variables of interest in this study were psychosocial risk factors: (a) stress, (b) social support, and (c) self-esteem. Other factors known to affect infant birthweight such as biomedical risk factors, lifestyle risk factors, and demographic risk factors were included to enable multivariate analyses of their relationship to birth outcomes. It was hypothesized that women with the highest scores for stress and lowest scores for social support and self-esteem would have a higher incidence of low birthweight (LBW) infants (less than 2,500 grams).

A sample of 219 women, including 211 enlisted and 8 officers, at a major military hospital and its affiliated obstetrical clinics was interviewed using the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile (PPP). These women were between the 8th and 42nd week of their pregnancies.

The women had been on active duty for an average of 3.83 years. Lifestyle risks reported by the women showed that none used hard drugs, few consumed alcoholic beverages, and most were nonsmokers. After chart review, most had six or fewer biomedical risks.

Of 202 infants born, the LBW rate was 5.4%, which is below the national average of 7.1%. Birthweights ranged from 500 to 5,075 grams, with 11 recorded as LBW. Multiple regression analysis showed that the total stress scale score $(p < .05)$ was the most statistically significant variable in predicting LBW. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that older women who had higher educational levels and higher incomes were more likely to have LBW infants. Higher biomedical risk scores were related to the delivery of preterm infants.

Recommendations for nursing practice and research included developing specific protocols for working women's special health care needs, particularly those in the military. These protocols included health promotion, health education, stress management, social support, and self-esteem enhancement. Using the PPP with larger and more diverse samples also was suggested.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-10, Section: B, page: 6176.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, 1996.

School code: 0240.