Measuring social support in pregnancy: can it be simple and meaningful?

Background: It is important to determine the level of a woman's social support at the booking-in interview for prenatal care, but measurement tends to be ad hoc and nonquantifiable. The purpose of this study was to describe the Maternity Social Support Scale and the relationship between support scale ratings and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and other health and service use outcomes. Methods: Women (n = 901) who attended the antenatal clinic at the Royal Women's Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, were asked to complete a support scale as part of their booking-in interview Participants were contacted at 16 weeks postpartum and invited to complete a follow-up questionnaire. Relationships between the scale and study outcomes were explored using analysis of variance and chi-square tests. Results: Women with low social support in pregnancy were more likely than well-supported women to report poorer health during pregnancy (p = 0.006) and postnatally (p < 0.001), to book later for prenatal care (p = 0.000), to seek medical help move frequently (p = 0.004), and to be more depressed postnatally (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: Social support during pregnancy can be measured in a meaningful and simple way through the use of a short questionnaire administered at the prenatal booking-in visit.