Integrative Review: Pregnant Women's Perception of Smoking Tobacco Risks During Pregnancy.

PURPOSE: To review the current state of the literature regarding pregnant women's perception of smoking tobacco risk during pregnancy.

METHODS

CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source, and PubMed were searched using the keyword combination of (a) perception or knowledge or attitude or belief or perspective or opinion, (b) tobacco, and (c) pregnancy or pregnant or prenatal or antenatal or perinatal or maternal. Whittmore and Knafl's integrative method was the framework utilized. Each study's level and quality of evidence were assessed according to the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Level and Quality Guide. The findings of each study were then grouped into themes.

RESULTS

Nineteen articles were included in the review. Major themes identified included pregnant women's perception of risk or knowledge, perception of benefits or barriers to smoking cessation, and pregnant women's source of information. Specifically, pregnant women who smoked tobacco were less likely to believe in the risk of associated adverse health outcomes than pregnant women who did not smoke tobacco; and pregnant women valued information from family and friends over healthcare providers.

DISCUSSION: Pregnant women with a low risk perception who continued to smoke tobacco suggests the need to improve public awareness of documented adverse pregnancy outcomes. Education needs to be directed towards the individual's perception of the susceptibility of risk and the severity of risk. This can increase motivation for tobacco cessation during pregnancy and potentially lead to increased cessation success, leading to improved pregnancy health outcomes.