Spiritual Well-being of Pregnant Women in Association with Life Satisfaction and Healthy Behavior during Pregnancy

Igor Korotkich — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 15:25:13 +0000

Pregnancy and childbirth are regarded as a spiritual event itself, one of life’s most important experiences for every woman. Pregnancy may be an opportunity to expand thinking or renew feelings about meaning in life and spiritual beliefs, which might provide greater protection for the mother and her baby.

The aim of this study was to assess the spiritual well-being of pregnant women in association with life satisfaction and healthy life behavior habits during pregnancy.

Methods. The cross-sectional survey design was applied for this study that was carried out from November 2019 till September 2020. For the self-assessment of spiritual well-being, satisfaction with life and healthy behavior, 127 pregnant women were invited to participate and 110 of them completed the survey with the response rate of 86.6%. The complete questionnaires from 102 study participants were analyzed. Spiritual Well-being Scale SHALOM and Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale (BMLSS), in addition to an authors’ developed scale on healthy behavior habits change during pregnancy, were used. The Lithuanian Regional Committee on Bioethics issued permission to conduct the study.

Results. The results revealed that summative scores of the domain and the mean scores of each item on the Ideals dimension were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than the same domain and the same item on the Lived Experience dimension. The communal and personal domains of spiritual well-being in both dimensions of SHALOM had higher mean scores than the other two domains while the transcendental domain was found to be the lowest. On the BMLSS, 97.1% (n = 99) of pregnant women were satisfied with their life, and the others (2.9%; n = 3) were not. Women were most satisfied with their family life, friendships and overall life. The main changes in the lifestyle because of pregnancy were related to healthier nutrition, use of alcohol and physical activity.

Conclusions. Women at their second trimester of pregnancy are in good spiritual health and highly satisfied with their life although the direct relationship between these two research phenomena was weak or moderate. The subjective health of women makes a difference in their perception of spiritual well-being and life satisfaction. Pregnant women tend to make changes in their lifestyle because of pregnancy by mostly improving their nutrition, avoiding use of alcohol and limiting physical activity. It is important to encourage women to use balanced exercise programs and to maintain their social interactions as protective factors for good mental health during pregnancy.

Healthy Behaviour and Psychological Well-Being in Young Adult Belarusian Men: How Much the Realization of Personal Goals in Life Matters?

Igor Korotkich — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 16:47:21 +0000

Background. Since the braking down from the Soviet Union, there has been an unnatural population decrease in Belarus. At present, life expectancy of men is 10–12 years lower than in women.
The aim of this study was to investigate the healthy behaviour and psychological well-being of young adult Belarusian men in association with the subjective estimation of the possibility to realise personal goals in life.
Methods. An anonymous cross-sectional survey design was employed. The study was conducted in 2016 with a randomised sample of men aged 18–30 (n = 895). The sample was representative of the national distribution of adult men (18–30 years) by place of residence. The methods of descriptive statistics, criterion χ² and the Mann-Whitney criterion were used for data analysis.
Results. The majority of young adult men were brought up in full families, in an atmosphere of love and understanding or respect and benevolence. Despite these, more that 60% of the respondents ever experienced depressive mood, and about 17% did not deny suicidal thoughts. The unhealthy behaviour, low psychological well-being and the smallest proportion (57.7%) of positive estimation of the possibility to realise life goals were more prevalent among rural male inhabitants. Respondents who reported the most favourable behaviour in relation to their own health were of average age, having higher education, officially married, mostly urban, raised more frequently in a full parental family, and in an atmosphere of love and understanding. These young adult Belarusian men also assessed better their personal psychological health and were more positive towards the possibilities to realise personal life goals.
Conclusions. The social portrait of a man with the best characteristics of health saving is of special interest: such a man is an implementer and bearer of the culture of vital behaviour, and it is precisely on him that social marketing programmes aimed at formation of a healthy lifestyle among young people should be oriented. Considering the fact that health, family, love and children hold the first positions among the life values of young men, there is a potential for development of social culture of health saving.

NERP » healthy behavior

Spiritual Well-being of Pregnant Women in Association with Life Satisfaction and Healthy Behavior during Pregnancy

Healthy Behaviour and Psychological Well-Being in Young Adult Belarusian Men: How Much the Realization of Personal Goals in Life Matters?