Abstract

Objectives: The study was conducted to screen cases suspected of mental disorders among pregnant women referred to health services centers and private midwifery clinics in the town of Shahr-e-Babak.

Method: Data were collected by SCL-90-R performed on 400 pregnant women and then ana-lyzed and interpreted through descriptive statistical, t-test, Mann Whiteny, one way analysis of variance and Kruskal Wallis.

Findings: The point prevalence in total was demonstrated at 32%. The highest and the lowest rates of prevalence respectively were interpersonal (44.3%) and psychosis (10.3%). Mean comparison of dimensions of SCL-90-R indicated a significant difference at least in one dimen-sion with the following variables: gestational age, ranking in pregnancy, occupation, number of children, unplanned pregnancy, infertility history, importance of fetal sex for woman or her husband, husband's education and employment, worried about beauty, lack of familial su-pport, unavailability for health care services, stressful events and high risk pregnancy factors.

Results: The prevalence of mental disorders in pregnant women is higher than the general population.