Investigation of body perception in pregnant women according to physical changes in pregnancy

Objective: Study was conducted to determine the effect of physical changes in pregnancy on their body image. Methods: This study was conducted with the pregnant women who applied to polyclinic of a government hospital at a city which in the middle of Turkey, as descriptive. Study was conducted with 300 pregnant women. Data were collected by using an Informative Form and Body Perception Questionnaire. Data were evaluated by using percentage, mean, One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Independent Samples Test and One-way Anova importance tests with Pearson correlation. Results: It is determined that pregnancy mask, stria on abdomen and edema could affect the body image and it was significant as statistically (p<0.05). Low income affected body image (p<0.05), increased number of pregnancy and gestational age affected body image negatively. Again, the body image of pregnant women who lived any health problem was affected negatively (p<0.05) and with increased age body image score increased [r ( 300)=0.166; p p<0,01]. Conclusion: As a result, physical changes at pregnancy and health problems affect the body image negatively