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Biomedical subjects

Lorraine O Walker

Publications and source records attributed to Lorraine O Walker.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Psychosocial factors related to nausea, vomiting, and fatigue in early pregnancy.

PURPOSE: To test whether nausea and vomiting or fatigue correlated with psychosocial variables. DESIGN: Descriptive, using secondary data from a prenatal database of 113 women in prenatal care in Texas. Mean gestational duration was 59 days at the time of data collection. METHODS: Psychosocial factors, frequency of nausea and vomiting and of fatigue were determined by use of questionnaires. Psychosocial measures had reliability and validity and included the Personal Resources Questionnaire and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. A checklist was used for measuring nausea and vomiting and fatigue. FINDINGS: Of 113 participants, 30 (26.5%) reported no, 43 (38.1%) occasional, and 40 (35.4%) frequent nausea and vomiting. Depressive symptoms had the highest correlation with nausea and vomiting. Social support was negatively related to nausea and vomiting. Four (3.5%) women reported no fatigue, 49 (43.4%) reported occasional fatigue, and 60 (53.1%) reported frequent fatigue in the past month. Depressive symptoms had the highest correlation with fatigue. The chi-square statistic showed that fatigue was significantly related to employment. Fatigue was not significantly associated with work hours or stressfulness of jobs. CONCLUSIONS: Only a limited number of psychosocial factors were associated with nausea and vomiting and fatigue in early pregnancy. Depression was related to physical symptoms, but unclear was whether depression preceded or resulted from the symptoms. Many women experienced symptoms, and better understanding of causality is needed to ameliorate the effects on women's well-being.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychosocial thriving during late pregnancy: relationship to ethnicity, gestational weight gain, and birth weight.

OBJECTIVE: To test the relationships between psychosocial thriving (depressive symptoms, health-related lifestyle) and gestational weight gain and birth weight. To test the influences of ethnicity on the relationships between psychosocial thriving and gestational weight gain and birth weight. DESIGN: Baseline data taken from the Austin New Mothers Study. SETTING: A community hospital in Texas. PARTICIPANTS: 305 low-risk African American, Hispanic, and White women with full-term pregnancies, singleton births, and Medicaid coverage. MAIN MEASURES: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Self Care Inventory, Food Habits Questionnaire, gestational weight gain, and birth weight. RESULTS: Newborns of African American women had lower birth weights (3,240 g) than newborns of Hispanic (3,422 g) or White women (3,472 g), even though no ethnic differences were found among the mothers on psychosocial variables. Late in pregnancy, women had high levels and prevalence (> 70%) of depressive symptoms regardless of ethnicity, and 50% exceeded recommended gestational weight gains. In full regression models, psychosocial variables were not significant predictors of gestational weight gain or birth weight. Ethnicity also was not a significant moderator of weight outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial thriving late in pregnancy was unrelated to gestational weight gain or birth weight. Ethnicity did not moderate psychosocial-weight relationships. Although ethnic differences were not found on psychosocial variables, high levels of depressive symptoms and greater than recommended gestational weight gains were prevalent. These findings have implications for maternal health during and beyond pregnancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗