Background: Pregnancy is one of the enjoyable and evolutionary aspects of women’s lives. In addition to being enjoyable, pregnancy is usually stressful. Counseling is one of the most appropriate interventions for decreasing worries and anxiety. Solution-focused counseling is a short-term treatment which focuses on positive and healthy aspects of liferather than problems and illnesses. In this regard, instead of focusing on shortcomings and disabilities, the therapist focuses on resources and abilities of the clients. This study was conducted to determine the effect of solution-focused counseling group therapy on pregnant women’s worries.
Methods: This clinical trial was performed on 108 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria: mothers aged 15-45, first pregnancy, gestational age of 6 to 19 weeks, reading literacy and worry score ≥ 55, from May to September 1397. The study was conducted at Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences and Reyhaneh Beheshti Obstetrics Consultation Center.
The subjects were randomly assigned to 4 blocks in two groups namely intervention group (5 sessions of solution- focused consultation) and control group regarding prenatal care (individual and psychological health education, sex, nutrition, breastfeeding, etc ...). Demographic and obstetric information were completed before the intervention. Concerns of pregnant women were evaluated before, after, and two months after the intervention with the Farsi Cambridge Worry Scale. This scale measures pregnant women's concerns about social medical status, socioeconomic status, maternal and neonatal health, childbirth, and relationship with spouse and others. There were graded scales on a 6-point Likert scale including: “not worried” (0) to “I am deeply concerned about” (6). The data were analyzed using t-test, chisquare, and repeated measure analysis of variance through SPSS software version 22. A P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The mean score of women’s worries before the beginning of the study in the intervention and control group were (58.9 ± 5.9) and (58.8 ± 4.37) respectively. After intervention, these values were 34/6 ± 3.13 and 57.7 ± 8.78. Two months after the study, these values were 31.1 ± 10.1 and 54.6 ± 10.9 respectively. The analysis of variance with repeated measurements showed that pregnant women’s concerns about childbirth, fetal health, maternal health, and family relationships significantly reduced after the intervention and two months later. Women’s worries regarding socioeconomic issues did not significantly reduce after the intervention and two month later in comparison with the control group )p = 0/563).
Conclusions: A solution- focused consultation is an effective way to reduce pregnant women's concerns about maternal, maternal health, delivery, and family relationships and can be used in conjunction with pregnancy care.