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Factors Affecting the Health of
Employed Pregnant Women
Kathryn Luchok, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina
School of Public Health), Principal Investigator
Lynne Hall, Dr.P.H.,
Co-principal Investigator
Funded by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
Grant #1 R01 OH03735-01
(1998-2003)
Abstract
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Employed women who are pregnant may be at an increased risk
of poor pregnancy outcomes, as well as postpartum
depression, anxiety, and poor functional health status, if
they are exposed to high levels of occupational stress
during their pregnancies.
The purposes of this study are
to: (1) assess the effects of occupational stress, social
resources and non-occupation-specific chronic stressors on
employed women's prenatal and postpartum levels of anxiety,
depressive symptoms, and functional health; (2) investigate
these effects on pregnancy outcomes of both mothers and
infants; and (3) examine whether these effects vary across
racial categories for women within
service-clerical-sales-manufacturing categories. It is
hypothesized that employed women who experience fewer
stressors and perceive their families, friends, co-workers
and supervisors as supportive during the last trimester of
pregnancy will have lower postpartum levels of anxiety and
depressive symptoms, better functional health status, and
better pregnancy outcomes than women who perceive more
stressors and less support.
A four-wave prospective panel
study of 168 employed women will be conducted over a
three-year
period. The women will be recruited from three obstetric
clinics in Kentucky. Data will be collected during in-home
interviews between 28 and 40 weeks gestation, via medical
record reviews, and in-home interviews four-six weeks after
returning to work postpartum, and again at six months after
returning to work. Measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety,
functional health status, non-occupation-specific chronic
stressors, social support from family, friends, co-workers
and supervisors, and occupational stress will be obtained.
Data on pregnancy outcomes for mothers and infants will be
obtained via medical record review after delivery. Data will
be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics,
including multivariate linear regression and logistic
regression.
The findings may have
implications for changes in the organization of work for
pregnant and postpartum women in
service-clerical-sales-manufacturing positions. Occupational
stress can lead to poor pregnancy outcomes, as well as
mental and physical health problems, which in turn can lead
to lost work time, low productivity, and increased use of
health and community social services. Better understanding
of how these stressors operate during pregnancy and postpartum may have implications for policy changes that
save industry and community resources, and more importantly,
that improve the well-being of working mothers.
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