SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES AMONG HIGH-RISK PREGNANT WOMEN

Objective: to identify spiritual/religious habits and practices among high-risk pregnant women and to analyze their beliefs on the subject. Methods: descriptive and exploratory study of quantitative approach. Data collection occurred between November 2016 and February 2017, at a High-Risk Pregnancy Outpatient Clinic in inland S？o Paulo, through the application of the Duke-DUREL religiosity scale and questions about the evaluation of spirituality in health care. The participants were 104 high-risk pregnant women. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: 53.8% of the pregnant women self-reported Catholic; 54.9% attended religious meetings at least once a week; 80.8% reported experiencing the presence of the Divine in their lives; 92.3% believed that their spiritual/religious belief helped them face risk pregnancy; and 86.5% believed that they had the right to have their spiritual/religious needs contemplated during medical care or hospitalization. Conclusion: for most of the interviewees, spiritual/religious practices were employed during the experience of high-risk pregnancy. Thus, health professionals need to consider this aspect during care