الفهرس 
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Abstract
Pregnancy is one of the most significant events during woman’s life. It is not a time of simply waiting for the fetus to be born; it is considered a period with its own tasks during which a pregnant woman has to cope with physiological, psychological and social changes. These changes are entirely normal, but may become very important in case there are complications or problems. Therefore, health promotion during this period is necessary and special care measures other than common sense about self-care are required in order to enjoy that pregnancy passes without unhampered and unnecessary restriction or complications for both mother and child.
In this study Orem’s work was utilized as theoretical framework. By applying this theory, pregnant women should meet self-care to their needs, including universal self-care practices and health deviation self-care practices for management of minor discomforts. The former includes: personal hygiene; dental care; breast care; clothes; nutrition; fluid intake; rest and sleep; exercises; drug administration; travel; immunization; time and number of antenatal visits. While the later includes: nausea & vomiting; heartburn; constipation; backache; muscles cramps; edema; vaginal discharge; frequency of urination; insomnia and shortness of breath.
The aim of this study is to: find out the self-care practices utilized by Yemeni pregnant women in Hodeida city.
Materials and method
Settings: The study was conducted at 6 MCH centers at Hodeida city in Yemen, where two centers were randomly chosen from each of the three available directorates in the city.
Subjects: A convenience sample of 330 pregnant women constituted the study sample, 55 women were conveniently chosen from each of the previously mentioned settings according to the following inclusion criteria: Has normal pregnancy course, free from any medical disease, attending antenatal clinic, was willing to participate in the study.
Tools of data collection: in order to collect the necessary data, one tool was used:
Tool: Pregnant women’s self-care practices structured interview schedule:
This tool was originally developed by Hables R (2008) and then adapted by researcher to assess self-care practices during pregnancy. It entailed three main parts: basic data, universal self-care practices and health deviation self-care practices.
Part I: Basic data structured interview schedule
a. Socio-demographic characteristics such as: age, marital status, pregnant’s woman and husband’s level of education, pregnant’s woman and husband’s occupation, family type, housing condition, residence, income.
b. Reproductive history such as: gravity, parity, last inter pregnancy interval, number of abortions, number of living children, number of still birth.
c. History of previous and current pregnancy such as: perinatal complications, duration of present pregnancy, number of antenatal visits.
Part II: Universal self-care practices
It was adapted by the researcher to assess (hygiene during pregnancy) according to Orem’s model. It was compromised of (13 items) as follows: Personal hygiene, teeth care, breast care, clothes, nutrition, fluid intake, rest and sleep, exercises, drug administration, travel, immunization, time of antenatal visit & number of visits.
Part III: health deviation self-care practices during pregnancy:
It was adapted by researcher to assess self-care practices in relation to relief minor discomforts. Namely: nausea & vomiting, heart burn constipation, backache, muscles cramp, edema, vaginal discharge, frequency of urination, insomnia and shortness of breath.
The main results obtained were as follow:
First: Basic data
a. Socio-demographic characteristics
• Almost half (54.2%) of the subjects were in their twenties, whereas More than one third (36.4%) of them were 30 years old or more.
• Only (19.6%) of them were illiterate, whereas one third (30.9%) of them had either secondary or university education or higher.
• More than two thirds (69.1%) of them were housewives and one quarter of them were employees.
• More than two fifths (46%) of pregnant women were living in nuclear families
• The majority (78.2%) of families were urban dwellers.
b. Reproductive history
• More than one quarter (26.4%) of the study subjects were primigravida, whereas more than three fifths (65.0%) of them gave birth one or two times.
c. History of previous and current pregnancy
• Almost two thirds (63.3%) of subjects had no history of previous pregnancy complications.
• The majority (85%) of them had previous vaginal delivery with or without episiotomy, whereas nearly one sixth (15 %) of them had cesarean delivery.
• 36.7% & 19.4% of them had a history of previous delivery & puerperium complications respectively.
• Less than one half (47.6%) of the subjects were in their third trimester.
Second: Self-care practices to meet the universal requisites
• It was clear that almost three fifths (58.2%) of the pregnant women obtained fair self-care practices, while 40.6% of them had good self-care practices.
• More than one half (53.6% , 64.5%, 65.8% , 58.2%, 57.9%, 62.7%, 62.7%) obtained fair self-care practices regarding meaning of bathing & personal hygiene, fluid intake, activity and rest, exercises, travel, drug intake and immunization respectively. Meanwhile, the majority (82.4%, 76.4%, 83.9%) of them also had got fair self-care practices in relation to teeth care, breast care, nutrition and follow-up & number of visits during pregnancy respectively.
• A statistically significant correlation was observed between the total score of universal self-care practices and most of subject’s socio-demographic data. Namely: pregnant woman’s level of education & her type of work, husband’s level of education & his type of work, residence, and availability of electricity and income
• There was a statistically significant correlation between total score of universal self-care practices and duration of pregnancy & number of visits as elements of current pregnancy history.
Third: Self-care practices to meet health deviation requisites ( minor discomforts of pregnancy)
• It was evident that more than one half (58.5%) of subjects had got fair health deviation self-care practices, compared to only 5.5% of them who had good health deviation self-care practices.
• There was an obvious statistically significant correlation between percent score of health deviation self-care practices and most of socio-demographic data, which included: pregnant woman’s level of education & her type of work, husband’s level of education & his type of work, residence, availability of electricity and income.
• There was no statistically significant correlation between percent score of health deviation self-care practices and most of reproductive history items.
• There was no statistically significant correlation between percent score of health deviation self-care practices and history of previous pregnancy except history of bleeding and history of cesarean section.
• There was a statistically significant correlation between percent score of health deviation self-care practices and number of visits to health center as part of current pregnancy history.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the present study results, it can be concluded that:
Most of Yemeni pregnant women had fair universal self-care practices. This was more apparent in matters related to bathing & personal hygiene, teeth care, breast care, nutrition, fluid intake activity and rest, exercises, travel, drug intake and immunization, follow-up and number of visits during pregnancy. On the other hand, only two fifths of them had good universal self-care practices, specifically in relation to clothes.
Generally, Yemeni pregnant women had fair self-care practices to meet their health deviation requisites (minor discomforts). Specifically in relation to of nausea & vomiting, heartburn, constipation, backache, legs cramps, edema of feet, frequency of urination and insomnia. Good self-care practices only noted in meeting the requisites of increased vaginal discharge and shortness of breath.
The main recommendations included the following:
1. The government should relent in its efforts to emphasize the importance of self-care practices during pregnancy in both governmental and private hospitals / health centers.
2. Awareness campaigns and seminars should be organized by obstetricians & gynecologists, nurses, midwives as well as health care organizations to improve self-care practices during pregnancy.
3. Develop educational programs for expectant mothers regarding management of minor discomforts of pregnancy by use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CAT).
4. Antenatal heath education should contribute in the reinforcement or modification or abolishment of pregnant women folk self-care practices.
5. The assessment of pregnant women’s status and their needs must include some questions about their indigenous self-care practices.
6. Participation of husbands in the care of their wives is important for successful implementation of self-care practices during pregnancy.
7. Further researches to be carried out:
• Study the effect of health education on improvement of universal self-care practices during pregnancy.
• Understand barriers that negatively impact self-care practices during pregnancy.
• The effect of use of home remedies for the management of minor discomforts of pregnancy
• Determination of knowledge requirements and health practices of illiterate pregnant women.
• Self management of pregnant women regarding minor discomforts in rural and deprived of health services.