Gestar, querer e cuidar: um olhar sobre a saúde mental da gestante.

Abstract

Throughout pregnancy, promoting mental health is essential to guarantee comprehensive health. The act of gestation comprises issues related to desire and planning, directly affecting the woman's psychological aspects and interfering in the perception and experience of motherhood. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand the repercussions of the biopsychophysiological determinants of pregnancy on women's mental health, identifying the main challenges faced by women in the face of unplanned pregnancy. METHODOLOGY: This is a descriptive qualitative research, using mixed methods. The scenario was conceived in Primary Care services in a municipality in the interior of Paraíba, with data collection carried out through the use of the Gestational Anxiety Symptom Screening Instrument (IRSAG) and the construction of semi-structured interviews. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of the 10 pregnant women interviewed, 60% were primiparous, 40% had a GA of 32 to 35 weeks, 90% had a Habitual Risk classification and, based on the IRSAG scores, 60% entered the moderate or high anxiety scale. The interview narratives were segmented and filtered into their respective recording units. The collected speeches were segmented and filtered into their respective registration units, comprising categories that relate the desire and planning for motherhood, difficulties and coping experienced during pregnancy, highlighting psychobiological aspects, socioeconomic vulnerabilities and perceptions about the support network. CONCLUSION: The discernment between planned and desired pregnancy emerges with distinct implications for the manifestation of physical, mental and social well-being. The use of the IRSAG offered an objective way to quantify anxiety symptoms, allowing rapid screening and identification of at-risk pregnant women. It appears that mental health is still a stigmatized topic, requiring an approach that includes clinical interventions and public policies that promote adequate support and treatment, promoted throughout the longitudinal period of prenatal care.