Volume 11, Issue 3 (Summer 2023)
Iran J Health Sci 2023, 11(3): 165-174 |
Back to browse issues page
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Alizada L, Rahimparvar S F V, SeyedAlinaghi S A, Noorzaie S, Dadras O. The Relationship Between Empowerment and Social Support Among Pregnant Afghan Women: A Cross-sectional Study in Kabul City, Afghanistan. Iran J Health Sci 2023; 11 (3) :165-174
URL: http://jhs.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-874-en.html
URL: http://jhs.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-874-en.html
Laila Alizada 
, Seyedeh Fatemeh Vasegh Rahimparvar , Seyed Ahmad SeyedAlinaghi , Samira Noorzaie , Omid Dadras *
, Seyedeh Fatemeh Vasegh Rahimparvar , Seyed Ahmad SeyedAlinaghi , Samira Noorzaie , Omid Dadras *
Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS (IRCHA), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. , omiddadras@yahoo.com
Abstract: (947 Views)
Background and Purpose: Afghanistan experiences a significant maternal mortality rate, which could be mitigated through the empowerment of women and increased social support. This study aimed to explore the relationship between empowerment and social support among pregnant women seeking care at governmental hospitals in Kabul City, Afghanistan.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 governmental hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2020. Through a convenient sampling, 428 pregnant women were recruited. The Kameda empowerment (Cronbach α=0.89) was used to measure woman empowerment. Sarason social support questionnaires with two subscales, including social support number (Cronbach α=0.95) and social support satisfaction (Cronbach α=0.96), were used to collect the study data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16, and the Pearson correlation test determined the association between variables at the significance level of P<0.05.
Results: The study participants’ Mean±SD age was 26.55±5 years. Many were illiterate (28.3%), and more than half (79.7%) were homemakers. Almost two-thirds had no sources of income (71.3%). The Mean±SD gestational age was 32.16±5.04 weeks, and 77.6% of participants wanted their pregnancy. The Mean±SD score for empowerment from 428 research samples was 85.48±9.02, for social support number was 5.49±0.65 (which indicates the low number of people who support women), and for social support satisfaction was 1.5±0.43 (which indicates a low level of social support satisfaction). Empowerment had a positive significant relationship with social support satisfaction (r=0.157, P=0.01) and social support number (r=0.129, P=0.007).
Conclusion: Given the significant positive relationship between empowerment and social support in pregnant Afghan women, the low scores of social support call for more attention to the special needs of Afghan women to enhance the social safety net and improve social support, particularly among pregnant women, and eventually enhance the empowerment and reduce the maternal mortality rate among them.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 governmental hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2020. Through a convenient sampling, 428 pregnant women were recruited. The Kameda empowerment (Cronbach α=0.89) was used to measure woman empowerment. Sarason social support questionnaires with two subscales, including social support number (Cronbach α=0.95) and social support satisfaction (Cronbach α=0.96), were used to collect the study data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16, and the Pearson correlation test determined the association between variables at the significance level of P<0.05.
Results: The study participants’ Mean±SD age was 26.55±5 years. Many were illiterate (28.3%), and more than half (79.7%) were homemakers. Almost two-thirds had no sources of income (71.3%). The Mean±SD gestational age was 32.16±5.04 weeks, and 77.6% of participants wanted their pregnancy. The Mean±SD score for empowerment from 428 research samples was 85.48±9.02, for social support number was 5.49±0.65 (which indicates the low number of people who support women), and for social support satisfaction was 1.5±0.43 (which indicates a low level of social support satisfaction). Empowerment had a positive significant relationship with social support satisfaction (r=0.157, P=0.01) and social support number (r=0.129, P=0.007).
Conclusion: Given the significant positive relationship between empowerment and social support in pregnant Afghan women, the low scores of social support call for more attention to the special needs of Afghan women to enhance the social safety net and improve social support, particularly among pregnant women, and eventually enhance the empowerment and reduce the maternal mortality rate among them.
Type of Study: Original Article |
Subject:
Maternal and Child Health
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-By-NC), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Contact Information
