Effects of Social Support, Pregnancy Stress, and Anxiety on Health-Related Quality of Life in Pregnant Women

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships between social support, pregnancy stress, and anxiety of pregnant women and to determine their effect on health-related quality of life. Methods: A total of 202 pregnant women participated in this study. The collected data were analyzed by the frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis using the STATA/IC 15.1 program. Results: As a result of this study, the major factors affecting the health-related quality of life of pregnant women were identified as anxiety, educational level, social support, and marital satisfaction. Social support has a positive effect on the health-related quality of life of pregnant women ( β =0.27, p ＜ .001), but anxiety had a negative effect ( β = − 0.56, p ＜ .001). Conclusions: When planning nursing interventions to improve the health-related quality of life of pregnant women, strategies for lowering the anxiety and improving the social support of pregnant women should be considered.