The Perspectives of Pregnant Women on Health-Promoting Behaviors: An Integrative Systematic Review

Objectives: The adoption of health-promoting behaviors is an important strategy for achieving desirable pregnancy outcomes. It also affects maternal and neonatal health. The aim this systematic review was to assess health-related behaviors in pregnancy. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, Irandoc, SID, Magiran, Iranmedex, and ProQuest were searched for retrieving articles published from 1995 to 2016. English and Persian keywords used in this study were “health promotion”, “pregnancy” and their equivalents in Mesh. Screening and selection of articles were conducted in 3 stages by 2 investigators independently and the quality studies was assessed using the NOS and COREQ scales. Results: Of 2366 articles, 21 articles were included in this study. There were low and average scores of health-promoting behaviors among pregnant women. Various factors such as maternal demographic characteristics, pregnancy and environmental factors influenced this condition. The most important motivator for health behaviors was the health of the fetus and newborn. The level of knowledge pertaining to the adoption of a healthy lifestyle was insufficient, and the main obstacles in dealing with health behaviors were time and a lack of a comprehensive approach in the healthcare system. Group activities and participation of men were considered facilitators. Nevertheless, due to differences in the study design and heterogeneous samples, no similar results were achieved. Conclusions: Improving our knowledge about the healthy lifestyle can improve pregnancy outcomes. In this regard, carrying out well-designed studies within the social and cultural backgrounds for need assessment is suggested.