A Study of Anxiety on First Time Pregnant Women in Ibadan

Abstract

As a result of previous studies that anxiety has deleterious effect on pregnancy, 146 primigradae were tested, on the modified Sarason s General Anxiety scale, at the ante-nata! clinics of the three biggest hospitals in Nigeria. The data generated was analyzed using simple frequency count and percentages. The result indicated that 81% of the primigravidae, representing about 109 of the subjects, were anxious. Similar result was obtained far young, elderly, educated, uneducated and subjects in their second and third trimesters. The counselling implication of the findings includes the need to provide young women with basic childbirth information and counselling before and during pregnancy. Added to this is the need to subject every pregnant woman, who comes far ante-natal clinic, to anxiety test so that remedial action could be taken on those who were found to have anxiety