Effects of occupational role strain, life change events, and prenatal risk factors on obstetrical outcomes in hospital nurses.

The relationships between stress and pregnancy outcomes in hospital nurses were examined retrospectively. Nurses who had singleton pregnancies completed a questionnaire on perceived role strain, life changes, and perinatal complications. Role strain was significantly correlated to complications during antepartum and marginally related to postpartal problems. Nurses who experienced increased role strain were noted to engender many life changes. If the life changes they experienced were undesirable and only moderately controllable, regardless of role strain, they correlated with intrapartal complications. If problems were noted antepartally, they correlated highly with adverse intrapartal and postpartal outcomes. Complications, intrapartum to postpartum and intrapartum to newborn, were significantly related. Stress did not correlate significantly to newborn complications; nevertheless, the incidence of birth defects was high. No significant differences existed between intensive care and transitional care nurses in terms of role strain or pregnancy complications.