Abstract

Longer-lasting psychological, social, and health status changes can be expected following miscarriages. Analytical cross-sectional study design was conduct at National Hospital- Kandy. Women admitted to THK fallowing miscarriage was the study population and pregnancies below 24 weeks of gestation was included. Systematic random sampling technique was applied for sample selection. Interviewer administered questionnaire and 12 item general health questionnaire were used as study instruments. A total of 391 responses were obtained. Mean age of the participants was 29.31 yrs(SD=6.02 yrs). The mean POA at which the miscarriage was 9.68 (SD=3.83). The majority of mothers have agreed with the fact that they endured all-time stress throughout the last two weeks (n=207:52.9%). Majority of mothers had suffered moderate stress throughout the study period (n=249:63.7%) and moderate level of social withdrawal following the miscarriage (n=225:57.5%). Poor level of general psychological status was experienced by 9.2% of the participants (n=36). General psychological status of the study participants was significantly associated with age (p<0.001), Occupation (p<0.001), educational status (p<0.001), alcoholic husband (p<0.001), history of subfertility (p<0.001), and the menstrual history (p<0.001). Distress and anxiety are the most common psychological disorders identified following a miscarriage. Maternal care service packages should be modified in order to facilitated communication between females and relevant public health officials regarding essential post abortion care protocols at the time of getting discharged from the hospitals.