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...

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Main Authors: Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah, Abd. Wahab, Noraziana, Sidek, A. A, Awang, Mokhtar, Abdullah, Suhaiza, Ibrahim, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ireland Ltd. 2012
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
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spelling iium-292322013-03-14T02:19:18Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/ Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah Abd. Wahab, Noraziana Sidek, A. A Awang, Mokhtar Abdullah, Suhaiza Ibrahim, N. R Medicine (General) RG Gynecology and obstetrics 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 fianceĀ“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. Elsevier Ireland Ltd. 2012-06-04 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/29232/1/Pregnancy_among_unmarried_women.pdf Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah and Abd. Wahab, Noraziana and Sidek, A. A and Awang, Mokhtar and Abdullah, Suhaiza and Ibrahim, N. (2012) Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 119 (spec). p. 151. ISSN ISSN: 1471-0528 (O), 1470-0328 (P) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03378.x/abstract 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03378.x
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
topic R Medicine (General)
RG Gynecology and obstetrics
spellingShingle R Medicine (General)
RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah
Abd. Wahab, Noraziana
Sidek, A. A
Awang, Mokhtar
Abdullah, Suhaiza
Ibrahim, N.
Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
description 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 fianceĀ“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.
format Article
author Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah
Abd. Wahab, Noraziana
Sidek, A. A
Awang, Mokhtar
Abdullah, Suhaiza
Ibrahim, N.
author_facet Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah
Abd. Wahab, Noraziana
Sidek, A. A
Awang, Mokhtar
Abdullah, Suhaiza
Ibrahim, N.
author_sort Mustafa, Kamarul Bahyah
title Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
title_short Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
title_full Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
title_fullStr Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in Pahang, Malaysia
title_sort pregnancy among unmarried women in a tertiary centre in pahang, malaysia
publisher Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
publishDate 2012
url 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
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:42:53Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:42:53Z
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