EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MISCARRIAGE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Miscarriage is known as spontaneous abortion; it is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or foetus from the uterus before it can survive independently. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological distress and miscarriage. After detailed literature review it was hypothesized that (i) There is a significant Correlation between miscarriage and psychological distress (ii) There is a significant difference in psychological distress levels during different trimester of pregnancy among female who experience miscarriage. A sample of 150 women was collected from different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. To explore the relationship between Miscarriage and Psychological Distress, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale- 21 (DASS-21, Lovibond 1995). Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Version 22. Result from the analysis of data shows that miscarriage is significantly and positively associated with stress, also shows significant positive inter correlation between stress and anxiety (r=0.719, p<.01), between stress and depression (r=.615, p<.001) and moderately strong positive correlation was also observed between anxiety and depression (r=0.703, p<.01).  An analysis of Variance (ANOVA) shows no significant difference in stress F (2, 147) =0.589, p=.551, anxiety F (2, 147) = 0.454, p = .636 and in depression F (2, 147) = 0.551, p =.601 across the trimester among the women who have experience miscarriage.