الفهرس 
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Abstract
Pregnancy is a normal physiological process that affects the woman physically and psychologically resulting in some minor discomforts. The most common discomforts experienced throughout pregnancy are: nausea and vomiting, heartburn, constipation, colic and flatulence, muscle cramps and backache. These minor discomforts present difficulties for the woman herself and health care providers as they affect women’s life. The way of dealing with these discomforts are either positive or negative; leading to numerous favorable or unfavorable health consequences.(1,3,10)
Home remedies are some of the ways that are increasable used during pregnancy to manage these discomforts. Although there is evidence for the effective and safe use of many home remedies, yet an abundant of these remedies are not yet proved to be either effective or safe for pregnancy and the fetus.(10, 110)
In Egypt, there are limited data on the extent of women’s use of home remedies during pregnancy to relieve minor discomforts. This raises the attention to investigate the use of home remedies for the management of minor discomforts of pregnancy. The availability of such information could be important for the development and provision of appropriate health care services for mother and her fetus.(157)
Aim of the study
The present study aimed to determine the use of home remedies for management of minor discomforts of pregnancy, namely: nausea & vomiting, heartburn, colic & flatulence, constipation, calf muscle cramps and low backache.
Materials and method
Setting:
The study was conducted at two outpatient obstetrical clinics in kafr el-dawar namely: The central hospital (El-shamlaa) and the general hospital (El-meree)
Subjects:
A convenience sample of 320 pregnant women who attended the above mentioned settings (160 study subjects from each setting). They were chosen according the following criteria: having normal course of pregnancy, having one or more minor discomforts, pregnant women from rural areas, absence of any chronic diseases and willing to participate in the study.
Data collection tools
Three tools were used for data collection:
Tool (1): Bio-socio-demographic characteristics structured interview questionnaire: It entailed three parts: the first part included socio-demographic characteristics of the study subjects. The second part covered subjects’ reproductive history, and the third part covered profile/nature of the current pregnancy.
Tool (II): Minor discomforts presence interview questionnaire: It is a list of the 6 specific minor discomforts in the study: each subject has to answer yes or no in relation to its presence, namely: nausea & vomiting, heartburn, abdominal colic & flatulence, constipation, muscle cramps and low backache.
Tool (III): Home remedies used for management of minor discomforts interview questionnaire: It was developed and used by the researcher to collect the necessary data. It included: used home remedies, techniques of usage, frequency, effectiveness and sources of knowledge.
It is widely acknowledged that the end of female reproductive life is a complex transition. However, it is usually assumed that the biological changes that take place, extremely evident by the cessation of menstruation are essentially the same everywhere, and that reported differences in the experiences of individual women and can be fully accounted by numerous psychological, social, and cultural factors that shape subjective experience and that are in effect, layered over an invariant biological base.
As life expectancy increases, women are spending more time in the postmenopausal phase of life. Therefore, understanding the health issues of postmenopausal women is important. The period at or following menopause is associated with health-related problems, other similar social indicators are expected with health, sexual, and reproductive issues in the future. Perceived health status is an indicator of general health and life quality.
The study of Quality of Life is an examination of influences upon the goodness and meaning in life, as well as people’s happiness and well-being. from our perspective, the ultimate goal of quality of life study and its subsequent applications is to enable people to live quality lives -- lives that are both meaningful and enjoyed. (24)
Menopausal symptoms may be alarming for the Quality of life and health status of middle-aged women, and they are also effective predictors of aging women’s health status in the future. Thus, it is necessary to understand the process of menopause and women’s health. Understanding women’s health requires an awareness of the context of women’s life, as well as extensive research to clarify influencing factors of women’s health. This approach is very useful for healthcare planning to improve women’s quality of life. As such, a study about menopausal symptoms would help healthcare providers to deal more effectively with health care for patients with troublesome symptoms.
Methods:
The study was an exploratory descriptive study which was conducted on 350 Women who were aged between 45-60 years old and working at the at all departments of the administration building for Alexandria University. Research was carried out over a period of three months. Starting from 26 April and ended at 30 July 2011, and the interview was conducted individually the data was collected at their time of duty
Tools
1- The general characteristics of the study subjects
2- Menopausal rating scale
3- Quality of life scale