Psychological distress among postpartum mothers of preterm infants and associated factors: a neglected public health problem

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress among postpartum Arab mothers of preterm or low birth weight (LBW) infants and to identify maternal characteristics that can predict psychological distress among mothers of preterm infants. Methods: A hospital-based study was conducted. A representative sample of 2,091 postpartum mothers was surveyed and 1,659 women (79.3%) gave their consent to participate in the study. The study was based on a face-to-face interview with a designed questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, medical history, and maternal characteristics. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Results: In the study sample, 10.2% of the postpartum mothers had preterm/LBW infants. Depression (29.4 vs. 17.3%) and anxiety (26.5 vs. 11.6%) were significantly more common among mothers of preterm births compared to mothers of full term infants (p , 0.001). The risk of depression in mothers of preterm/LBW infants was two times the risk in mothers of full term infants, while the risk of anxiety was 2.7 times in mothers of preterm/LBW infants than in mothers of full term infants. Young mothers and those who had less than secondary education (42.0 vs. 21.7%; p = 0.007) and lower monthly household income (72.0 vs. 53.3%; p = 0.024) were more depressed and anxious after the preterm birth when compared with mothers of full term infants. Psychological distress was higher in mothers with history of preterm birth (30.0 vs. 21.7%) and delivery complications (52.0 vs. 33.3%). Conclusions: We found a greater risk of depression and anxiety in mothers of preterm births than in mothers of full term infants. Our analysis revealed that depressed and anxious women of preterm infants were younger, less educated, had a lower body weight and low household income than nondepressed and non-anxious women.

GAD-7 and PHQ-9 measurement of perinatal anxiety and depression in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in Yaounde, Cameroon

“…In the literature, the prevalence of anxiety in the postpartum period is variable, but it is higher in the presence of complications of pregnancy and childbirth. 29 Our results are higher than in most studies found in the literature. 22,26 The difficult social conditions of the populations could be the common feature of these studies.…”

“…28 Some authors have shown that in the presence of pregnancy complications, women with this profile often present with anxiety and depression. 29,30 Married women represent 30.2% of our study population with the others being either celibate or living in free union. In the latter group more often, the majority of pregnancies are unplanned.…”

Improving Maternal Mental Health Following Preterm Birth Using an Expressive Writing Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Parents of preterm babies report more perceived stress and experience more adjustment difficulties and need for support during the first year after delivery compared to parents of infants born at term (7,8). It has been documented that parents may experience severe psychological distress, such as posttraumatic stress reactions and depression following the preterm birth of their baby, which subsequently may impact on the mother-infant-interactions and their attachment relationship (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). In turn, poorer parenting competencies, such as lack of sensitivity during interactions may affect the infant's development (15).…”

A Prematuridade na Perspectiva das mães: Estado Psicoemocional, Autoestima e Bonding em mães Primíparas e Multíparas

“…Parte dos resultados do presente estudo sugere que o impacto emocional de um bebé prematuro não difere em função da paridade das mães sendo, por si só, um momento gerador de stresse para a figura materna, tendo em conta a fragilidade do recém-nascido e os cuidados especiais que este habitualmente requer (Bener, 2013). Este resultado é de particular relevância para a intervenção precoce com estas díades (famílias), não só primíparas, como multíparas.…”

“…O nascimento de um filho é, em si mesmo, uma fase desafiante para qualquer mãe, devido ao surgimento de novos papéis (Mercer & Ferketich, 1995) e às consequentes mudanças intra e inter-sistémicas que lhe subjazem (Moura-Ramos & Canavarro, 2007;Pereira & Canavarro, 2011). No caso da experiência de um parto prematuro, este acaba por desencadear nestas mães maior stresse psicológico (Bener, 2013), sentimentos depressivos (Morawski Mew, Holditch- Davis, Belyea, Shandor, & Fishel, 2003) e de ansiedade, do que em mães de bebés de termo (Gennaro, 1988).…”