Background & Aim: Women with high risk pregnancy experience changes in their personal, family, and social life that affect their quality of life and mental status. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of type of pregnancy (normal or high risk) on quality of life and depression levels in pregnant women.

Methods & Materials: In this case-control study, a total of 100 women (50 women with normal pregnancies and 50 women with high risk pregnancies) who referred to the prenatal clinics of Kashan Medical University were studied. Subjects were randomly selected and then allocated in the normal (control) or high risk (case) groups. Data were gathered using a three-part questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) to assess the quality of life, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess the levels of depressive symptoms. 

Results: In this study, the results revealed that the mean score of the quality of life was lower in the women with high risk pregnancy (53/20±16/83) in comparison with the women with normal pregnancy (62/18 12/48). The mean of the BDI scores in high risk pregnancies (15/34±9/15) were significantly higher than in normal pregnancies (9/8±5/44). Depression has strong negative correlation with quality of life in both women with high risk and normal pregnancies (P<0.001).

Conclusion: To sum up, it is very important to identify women that are at risk and help them to promote their quality of life.

Background & Objective: Studies show, clients&apos satisfaction is an important indicator for service quality assessment. Finding causes of dissatisfaction helps to promote health care services quality.  High quality prenatal care services and clients&apos satisfaction decreases maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. The perceived quality of the prenatal care by the mothers can not be effectively evaluated unless considering the opinions, demands and satisfaction rate of mothers who receive the care. The objective of this study is to measure prenatal care utilization rate and patients satisfaction in the clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2005.

Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 380 pregnant women who had received prenatal care services in two hospitals and eight health centers were selected randomly and interviewed. Data were gathered using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and satisfaction questions. Data were analyzed using SPSS and tested with chi-square and Pearson exact test.

Results: According to the results, 53.4 % and 14.8% of the pregnant women had received complete and incomplete prenatal care, respectively. Most of the pregnant women (54.7%) were completely satisfied, 23.7% and 21.6% were moderately and poorly satisfied, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the utilization rate and satisfaction of mothers (P<0.001). 53.4% of mothers in health centers and 46% in hospitals had received complete prenatal care. Satisfaction with prenatal care in health centers and hospitals were 57.5% and 47%, respectively. This difference was probably related to the amount of emotional and physical care received by the patients in the different settings and the characteristics of the centers in which these services are provided. The kind of setting had significant relationship with the utilization and satisfaction rates (P=0.003, P=0.005, respectively). The results showed that the utilization and satisfaction rates in the health centers in which health-care providers were midwives were better than the hospitals in which health-care providers were medical and midwifery students. But in both settings it was lower than 60%.

Conclusion: As a result, the utilization rate and satisfaction of mothers were inadequate in health centers and hospitals (lower than 70%). In the hospitals, they were lower than the health centers. The standardization of prenatal care and improvement of educational programs in hospitals should be considered.