Abstract

Objective: To explore the frequently reported psychosocial problems during pregnancy and develop a valid and reliable assessment procedure that can be further use for counseling purposes.
Methodology: The current study is a mixed methods design comprised semi-structure interview technique to explore the lived experience of psychosocial problems and to generate item pool and factor analysis to establish psychometric properties of the newly developed scale. 150 pregnant women with all the three trimesters were selected through purposive sampling technique and given the Psycho social problems of Pregnant Women Scale (PPSPW) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-SF) along with a demographic Performa. SPSS 20 was used for analysis.
Results: A total of 150 pregnant women from urban and ruler areas with the age range of 20- 40 were selected from different Govt. and private gynecological departments of Lahore. There were an equal proportion of participants from each trimester. The results of factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution namely Somatic Problems, Apprehension about Future, Lack of Family Support and Low Mood. PPSPW found to have high internal consistency and concurrent validity. The tool developed in the current study would be helpful for measuring the psychosocial issues women face during their phase of pregnancy.
Conclusion: Pregnant women experience serious psychosocial problems which if not identified early and timely may lead to serious mental health consequences not only for the new mother, the child but for whole family.

Key words: Pregnancy, psychosocial problems, child bearing.