Pregnant women’s graphic representations: a new instrument for the assessment of the body image during gestation

Pregnant women’s body image is crucial for psychological organization during pregnancy. Projective drawings enable the assessement of body image but studies using drawings of pregnancy (DP) are scarce. Aims: to observe the evolution of body image between the second and the third trimesters using DP and the relationships between DP and sociodemographic and clinical factors. Participants: pregnant women waiting for sonograms (202, second trimester; 159, third trimester). Instruments: Sociodemographic and Clinical Questionnaire and DP. Results: DP’s data at the second trimester were factoranalyzed yelding four factors: F1- General Representation of the Imaginary Baby (α = .966), F2- Representation of the Maternal Image (α = .888), F3- Detailed Representation of the Imaginary Baby (α = .846) and F4- Recognition of Pregnancy (α = .588). Between the two moments, F2 presented a significant difference while F1, F3 and F4 did not. Significant correlations were observed between DP’s factors and clinical variables: parity, spontaneous abortions, total of abortions and the beginning of maternal perception about fetal movements. Conclusion: in a healthy population, DP are sensitive to changes in maternal image. Once the imaginary baby representation and the recognition of pregnancy do not change significantly, the theory of psychological development during pregnancy is reinforced.