The effect of positive psychology intervention on quality of life among women with unintended pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that quality of life in women with unintended pregnancy is significantly less than the ones with wanted gestation. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the effect of intervention based on the positive psychology interventions on women's QoL with unintended pregnancies in Kermanshah, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial, 40 women with unintended pregnancy met the eligibility criteria and were randomized into experimental (n = 20) or control (n = 20) groups. The Short-form 36-item Questionnaire (SF-36) was administered at pretest, post-test, and six weeks after the intervention. Positive psychology interventions were performed in each session once a week for 10 weeks, with a duration of 90 minutes. The Friedman test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used to analyze QoL and all eight domains for within-group and between-group comparisons, respectively. The level of confidence was set at 0.05 significant. RESULTS: Distribution of matched variables was not significantly different between the two trial groups. Over the intervention period, the mean of total scores of QoL and seven dimensions showed significant improvement among the experimental group, whereas in the control group, it decreased significantly (P < 0.05). In addition, in the posttest and follow-up stages, the mean score of six dimensions of QoL was higher than the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study, unintended pregnancy has side effects on QoL in women. Positive counseling interventions can improve the quality of life in women with unintended pregnancy.