The relationship between perceived stress and pregnancy distress with self‐care of pregnant women: The mediating role of social support—A cross‐sectional study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pregnancy is a stressful experience, which can affect different aspects of a woman's life. Yet, women with a supportive network of friends and family may experience lower stress and improved self‐care behavior. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived stress and pregnancy distress with the self‐care of pregnant women, as well as the mediating role of social support. METHODS: This cross‐sectional study was conducted from February to May 2022 in Babol, Iran. A total of 157 pregnant women participated in the study. The participants completed five questionnaires, including a demographic and obstetric questionnaire, a Self‐care questionnaire, Perceived Social support (PSS), Perceived Stress Inventory (PSI), and Pregnancy Specific Distress. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis relationships among the variables. RESULTS: We found that Perceived stress (β = −0.221, p = 0.012β) and pregnancy distress (β = −0.203, p = 0.002β) had a negative and significant effect on the self‐care of pregnant women. Also, perceived stress (β = −0.429, p < 0.001β) and pregnancy distress (β = −0.381, p < 0.001β) had a negative and significant effect on the social support of pregnant women. The results exhibited a significant specific indirect effect between pregnancy distress, perceived stress, and pregnancy self‐care, with social support as the mediator: standardized indirect effect = −0.068, −0.076, respectively. CONCLUSION: According to the findings, social support plays a direct and mediating role in improving self‐care behaviors among pregnant women. Therefore, providing strategies and measures to improve perceived social support by maternal health professionals may be expected to reduce the impact of stress on pregnant women's self‐care. The implementation of policies and social interventions to improve the social support of pregnant women can be one of the applications of the findings.