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Learning Objective 1: understand the relationships between pregnancy constitution, stress and discomfort symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Learning Objective 2: learn the knowledge of the significant predictors of fatigue, nausea, and frequent urination related to pregnancy constitution.
Methods: A descriptive and correlational design was adopted and 261 women were recruited in their first trimester of pregnancy in southern Taiwan. Structured questionnaires including a Demographic Data Sheet, Traditional Chinese Medical Constitutional Scale, Visual Analog Stress Scale and Evaluation of Uncomfortable Symptoms During the First Trimester of Pregnancy were used to collect data.
Results: Results of this study indicated that (1) the mean score for a yin-xie deficient constitution was 31.09±6.75, for a yang-qi deficient constitution was 34.94±8.59, and for a tan-shi-yu-zhi constitution was 28.33±6.67; (2) the top five discomforts reported during the first trimester of pregnancy included fatigue, nausea, frequent urination, swelling pain in the breasts and heavy vaginal discharge, in descending order; (3) stress was positively correlated with yin-xie deficient, yang-qi deficient and tan-shi-yu-zhi constitutions; (4) pregnancy constitution was positively correlated with the amount of discomfort symptoms; (5) the significant predictor for fatigue was tan-shi-yu-zhi constitution and stress, for nausea was tan-shi-yu-zhi constitution, and for frequent urination was deficient in yang-qi and yin-xie.
Conclusion: This research is the first to acquire evidence-based data regarding correlations between pregnancy constitution, stress and uncomfortable symptoms during the first trimester of pregnant women. This can assist healthcare professionals to provide more suitable perinatal nursing care during pregnancy through integrating traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine. Such can enhance the comfort of women undergoing pregnancy and promote the health of both the fetus and mother.