Relationship between Health Promoting Lifestyle and Perceived Stress in Pregnant Women with Preeclampsia

ABSTRACT Introduction: Lifestyle during pregnancy has long-term effects on health of mother and child. Having previous illness or unexpected maternal or fetal conditions such as preeclampsia can complicate pregnancy and interfere with health-promoting behaviors and cause stress might interfere with health-promoting behaviors. This study was carried out to examine the relationship between health-promoting lifestyles and perceived stress in women with preeclampsia.Methods: This study is a descriptive correlation design that was conducted on 182 pregnant women with preeclampsia attending in the high risk clinics of Al-Zahra and Talegani hospitals in Tabriz 2014. Data gathering tools were three: demographics, health-promoting lifestyle (HPLP-II), and perceived stress questionnaires. SPSS Ver. 13 was used for data analysis.Results: The mean (SD) of health promoting lifestyle among pregnant women with preeclampsia was 2.4 (0.4). Among the dimensions of health promoting life style, the highest mean score was for sub domain of nutrition, i.e. 2.8 (0.5), and the lowest score was achieved by the sub-domains of physical activity, i.e. 1.5 (0.5).The mean (SD) score of perceived stress was 27.3 (7.1). There was reverse relationship between perceived stress and health -promoting behaviors.Conclusion: Based upon the results, health promoting behaviors were decreased by increment of perceived stress. Therefore, midwives can help women with preeclampsia by promoting health behaviors to reduce their stress and increase health-promoting behaviors.