Sense of coherence among pregnant women participating and not participating in antenatal classes

Introduction
Pregnancy is undoubtedly one of the most important and stressful events in a woman’s life. Fear of childbirth is common during pregnancy and has a significant impact on the course of the labour, which may also be a sign of postnatal mental health problems. Both participation in antenatal classes and the individual sense of coherence can increase the sense of self-efficacy and satisfaction with childbirth.

Aim of the research
Assessment of the sense of coherence among pregnant women participating and not participating in antenatal classes.

Material and methods
The enrolled group of 200 women was divided into two equal subgroups: the study group – participants of antenatal classes (n = 100); and the control group – women not participating in antenatal classes (n = 100). The Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC-29) was applied as a research method. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee. It was carried out in the period from October 2016 to December 2018.

Results
Among the sociodemographic factors, education and living conditions had a significant impact on the sense of coherence. The sense of manageability was significantly higher (p = 0.0252) among women with at most secondary education (51.05 ±8.35 points) than in the group of women with higher education (48.53 ±7.14 points). The living conditions of women significantly influenced the sense of coherence (p = 0.0037). The sense of coherence was as high among women who participated in antenatal classes (4.74 ±0.64 points) as among women who did not participate in these classes (4.74 ±0.65 points).

Conclusions
The sense of coherence is one of the personal resources that can significantly affect coping in difficult life situations. Hence, it is important to assess the sense of coherence not only in pregnant women, but also in women preparing for pregnancy. It would be worthwhile conducting further studies based on a multicentre project analysing a number of other individual and social factors.