evaluating maternal social support in low birth weight neonates comparing with normal neonates in 2012

introduction : pregnancy as a stressful event may cause some consequence for both mother and infant such as low birth weight (lbw). lbw is seen in about 7% of pregnancies in iran. it was proved there is a correlation between infants weight and maternal social support. this study was designed to evaluate maternal perceived social support in lbw infants and infants with normal weight. methods and materials : this was a case-control study which was done in isfahan, iran during april-november 2012 on 188 participants in 2 groups. in case group we had evaluated mothers with low birth weight infants and control group were mother with normal infants. farsi version of multidimensional scale of perceived social support (mspss-p) was used for social support evaluation. results : in lbw group mean family support subscale score was 14.87 ± 4.33, mean friends support subscale score was 9.65 ± 5.89 and significant others support subscale mean score was 15.18 ± 5.11. in normal weight  group mean family support subscale score was 18.46 ± 3.98, mean friends support subscale score was 15.4 ± 6.41 and significant others support subscale mean score was 18.46 ± 4.1. conclusion : maternal perceived prenatal social support could be a predictor for  infants birth weight. supportive family could helps pregnant women to reduce adverse pregnancy out comes such as low birth weight.