Effectiveness of Stress Immunization on Psychological Well-Being, Depression and Blood Sugar in Pregnant Women with Mitral Valve Prolapse

Introduction: Pregnancy puts stress on the heart and circulatory system. This stress is more common in women with heart problems such as mitral valve prolapse. Stress and its resulting stress in pregnant women with mitral valve prolapse appear to cause many psychological and physiological complications such as decreased psychological well-being, depression and changes in blood sugar levels. However, research in this area is weak. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of immunization against stress on psychological well-being, depression and blood sugar in pregnant women with mitral valve prolapse. Methods: The design of the present study was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest-follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all 107 pregnant women with mitral valve prolapse who referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran in 2019. In order to form two groups using purposive sampling method, first 30 people were selected then they were randomly grouped into experimental and control groups. The stress immunization program was performed in 9 sessions as a group for the experimental group but the control group did not receive any intervention. At the end of the sessions, post-test was performed for both groups and follow-up test was performed three months after the post-test. Reef Psychological Welfare Questionnaire (1989), Beck and Clark Depression Scale (1987) and glucometer were used to collect data. Research data were analyzed using repeated measures tests and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software version 22. Results: The results showed that immunization against stress had a significant effect on improving psychological well-being and reducing depression in pregnant women with mitral valve prolapse in the experimental group compared to the control group (p <0.001). And this effect remains in the follow-up stage (p <0.01). Other findings showed that immunization against stress had no significant effect on blood sugar and no significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in blood sugar levels (p>0.05). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, in the case of pregnant women with mitral valve prolapse, psychologists, counselors and health professionals can use immunization intervention against stress to improve psychological well-being and reduce depression.