Background and objective: Pregnancy anxiety in a common problem during pregnancy period that is associated with negative consequences. The current study was conducted in order to determine the role of health beliefs and health promoting behaviors in predicting pregnancy anxiety among pregnant women.

Methods: This research was a descriptive- analytical and correlational study. Pregnant women referred to health centers of the Ardabil city for medical cares from the first to ninth month of pregnancy in the second half of 2014 were the population of this study. One hundred and ten women were randomly selected via clustering sampling method from this population they were asked to fill in the questionnaires- demographic data, Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised (PRAQ-R), health belief model questionnaire and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). The data were analyzed by tests of Pearson correlation and multivariate regression.

Results: Pregnancy anxiety had negative relationship with perceived susceptibility (r = -0.41 p < 0.001), severity of perceived consequences (r= -0.56 p < 0.001), benefits of medical treatment (r= -0.35 p< 0.001), total score of health promoting lifestyle (r= -0.67 p < 0.001), its components, namely health responsibility (r= -0.54 p < 0.001), physical activity (r= -0.42 p < 0.001), nutrition (r= -0.42 p < 0.001), spiritual growth (r= -0.55 p < 0.001), interpersonal relationships (r= -0.57 p < 0.001), and stress management (r= -0.64 p < 0.001). Regression analyses also revealed that 44% of variance of pregnancy anxiety of women was explained by health beliefs and 50% of it was explained by health promoting lifestyle.

Conclusion: Positive beliefs about health and health promoting lifestyle play role in reducing pregnancy anxiety. The results of this research propose the necessary of training health beliefs and health promoting life style during pregnancy period for improving psychological health and coping with pregnancy anxiety.

Paper Type: Research Article.