Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Nursing Effect, cilt.19, sa.1, ss.47-60, 2026 (Scopus)
During this time, perceived stress can affect a mother’s prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy and her attitudes toward breastfeeding. Therefore, managing stress during pregnancy is critical for initiating and maintaining a healthy breastfeeding process. Objectives: This study was conducted to examine perceived stress during pregnancy and prenatal breastfeeding selfefficacy. Methods: In this descriptive study, 347 pregnant women who applied to the pregnant outpatient clinics of a state hospital in the southern part of Turkey for prenatal follow-up were included. The data of the study were collected with Personal Information Form, Pregnancy Stres Rating Scale and Prenatal Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U” test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Bonferroni and Spearman correlation tests were used in the analysis of the data. p0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between only the employment status and family type of the pregnant women and the total mean scores of prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy scale (p0.05). A negative statistically significant correlation was found between prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy scale and total pregnancy stres rating scale and total scores of pregnancy, birth and postpartum safe health care, birth and postpartum social support, infant identity and care, socio-economic life in pregnancy (p0.05). Conclusions: In the study, it was found that pregnant women had low pregnancy stress, high prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy and perceived stress in pregnancy affected prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy. Based on these findings, it is recommended that pregnant women be assessed psychosocially during the prenatal period, and that the relationship between stress and breastfeeding self-efficacy be examined in groups with different sociodemographic characteristics.