Studying the lifestyle of pregnant women, their awareness and satisfaction with information on the impact of his disorders on the health of the unborn child

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Introduction. The non-decreasing incidence of children in the first year of life, which is largely due to the lifestyle of women both before and during pregnancy (1,2,3). At the same time, it is known that the presence of violations in a person's lifestyle is determined by his awareness of the impact of these violations on health.
The aim of the work was to study the lifestyle of pregnant women, their awareness of the impact of its disorders on the formation of the health of the unborn child, as well as their satisfaction with preventive counseling on these issues.
Material and methods. The research was conducted during the academic year, as part of the work of the student scientific circle of the Department of Nursing of the Synergy University. The study used a specially designed questionnaire consisting of 94 closed and open-ended questions. It was based on A.V. Balakireva's questionnaire (5). The study involved 475 women registered for pregnancy in women's clinics in Moscow and the Moscow region. Analytical and statistical methods were used in the course of the study, and an anonymous online survey was conducted.
The results of the study. The age categories of 26-39 years old, who are in the second (37.6%) and third (41.8%) trimesters of pregnancy, prevailed among the surveyed women. The majority of women considered their lifestyle healthy (78.7%), but 73 respondents (16.4%) found it difficult to answer this question. More than a third of the respondents continued to work during illness, for example, with ARVI (38.3%), and 19.6% of women had occupational hazards. Also, 55 out of 178 women (30.8%) who smoked and consumed alcohol before pregnancy continued this practice after its onset. Meanwhile, the majority of respondents reported that they are well aware of the prevention of child health disorders before birth (75.1%). They named websites and forums for pregnant women on the Internet as the main source of information on this issue (88.6%). The results showed that 9.4% of women do not know about the negative impact of bad habits on the health of the unborn child, 15.4% are not aware of the consequences of stressful situations, 28.2% do not understand the dangers of taking medications without a doctor's appointment, 30.8% do not realize the importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy, 43.8% do not understand the importance of work and rest, 69.3% do not know about the dangers of physical inactivity. Only 36 women are aware of the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis from contact with domestic cats during pregnancy. At the same time, a detailed analysis of the lifestyle of women showed that half of them have a disturbed work and rest regime (43.8%), a third have low stress tolerance (36.4%), medical (33.9%) and physical activity (69.3%). In addition, 53.7% of pregnant women have diseases that affect the development of the child in utero. Such a characteristic of the lifestyle of women preparing to become mothers emphasizes both their low awareness of the impact of its violations on the health of the unborn child, and insufficient motivation for his recovery. At the same time, respondents receive information about improving their lifestyle during pregnancy from specialists of the obstetric service (84.8%), but even this is often considered incomplete (64.2%). One in five pregnant women reported that they had not received information from health workers on the course of pregnancy, preparation for childbirth, preservation of physical health and protection of the health of the unborn child (26.2%, 23.3% and 21.4%, respectively). Almost half of the pregnant women who received recommendations consider them incomprehensible (41.4%), and therefore most women would like to receive recommendations in the form of memos (93.8%). The results show that pregnant women are not sufficiently aware of the impact of lifestyle disorders on the health of the unborn child, but at the same time they are interested in receiving information on this issue. This indicates the need to improve preventive counseling for pregnant women to ensure the health of children at the antenatal stage.
Conclusion. Thus, the problem is that pregnant women often violate a healthy lifestyle and are not motivated enough to improve it. They are also poorly aware of the impact of these disorders on the health of the unborn child, although they show great interest in this topic. As a result, preventive consultations on the impact of various lifestyle disorders on the child's health are not effective enough. This requires the development of comprehensive medical and social programs to support families in matters of antenatal child health care.

About the authors

Alina Sergeevna Kanaeva

Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy"

Email: alinakanaeva2075@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0009-0005-2046-6013

3rd year student of the Faculty of Medicine

Russian Federation, 105318, Moscow, Izmailovsky Val str., 2

Anna Vladimirovna Slezina

Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy"

Author for correspondence.
Email: a.slezina@internet.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2454-0960

Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine

Russian Federation, 105318, Moscow, Izmailovsky Val str., 2

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