Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
Objective: The study was aimed at obtaining sociodemographic data of unmarried women who delivered in the centre. The information includes age, education level, parental status, substance abuse and previous sexual abuse. Setting: Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Methods...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/1/Pregnancy_among_unmarried_women.pdf |
| Summary: | Objective: The study was aimed at obtaining sociodemographic
data of unmarried women who delivered in the centre. The
information includes age, education level, parental status,
substance abuse and previous sexual abuse.
Setting: Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang,
Malaysia.
Methods: This one year prospective study was conducted from 1
August 2010 until 31 July 2011 by identifying the women upon
admission to this centre for delivery. They were interviewed using
a standard guided questionnaire and conducted by a dedicated coresearcher.
All unmarried pregnant women who came for delivery
in this centre were included unless they refused.
Results: During the study period, out of 9994 women who came
for deliveries, 121 women were identified as unmarried, and were
recruited. The youngest maternal age at delivery was 13, and the
oldest was 36 with a mean age of 21.6 years. 31.4% were
teenagers. Only 16% of patients have the benefit of higher
education beyond their primary and secondary school, and 2.5%
has never had any formal education. 36.3% of the women has
their parents either divorced or widowed/widower. With regards
to substance abuse, 31.4% of the women were either smoker or ex
smoker, only 7.5% have ever consumed alcohol, and none
admitted to ever use any recreational drugs. 90.9% of the women
became pregnant after sexual debut with either their boyfriend or
their fiance´e, and the other 9.1% either had the sexual encounter
with someone other than the two mentioned, or did not know
personally their sexual partner. 8.3% has prior history of being
sexually assaulted. Ninety-two patients (76%) never used any
contraceptive method despite majority of them (85.1%) were
aware of the danger of sexually transmitted disease. Seventy-five
percent of them were either unbooked or late booker. Of all the
patients, 54 (45.8%) were not aware of availability of support
groups.
Conclusion: Single unmarried women are usually associated with
poor background history, poor antenatal check up, substance
abuse, and other social ills. This study has managed to identify
certain possible background factors of these women in our society
that may be addressed in order to improve the antenatal and
postnatal care of the mother and babies in the future, as well as
the social ills in general. This is important in this era of moral
decadence. |
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