POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION

Postpartum Depression in African American Women

Postpartum Depression in African American Women

Introduction

Depression is twice as likely to develop in women as men throughout the world's population. As childbirth is a major life event that can potentially be very stressful for women it poses as a period where mental health can be challenged. Post partum depression is a common mood disorder that affects women throughout pregnancy and during the period after childbirth. As this is an illness that is widely spread there is great importance in screening and diagnosing women during the antenatal period to ascertain whether or not they will be at risk of developing post partum depression.

Depending on the severity of post partum depression there are a number of common outcomes for those cases that go untreated; these include personal suffering to the mother and family, poor mother-infant relationships, impaired emotional development of the children and in most severe cases infanticide and maternal suicide (1). As there are clearly defined symptoms associated with the development of post partum depression predictive models have been developed so that effective screening and subsequent diagnosis can be practiced. The early detection of post partum depression allows for intervention to take place and affected parents can begin treatment and management plans to rectify their condition. As women have multiple contacts with health professionals throughout their pregnancy then implantation of screening instruments should not be difficult, however post partum depression is still severely under diagnosed throughout the western world.

The prevalence of the disease fluctuates greatly across many studies ranging from 3% to 25% amongst pregnant women; these differences show the need for the implementation of a universal method of screening and diagnosis.

Currently there are two common predictive models that are used as screening instruments that yield similar results; these are the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Post Partum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS). These models are used to determine if a woman is at risk of developing post partum depression and the degree of PPD that she is likely to suffer.

Hypothesis

Following are the hypothesis that will be analyzed:

There is a great use of Post Partum Depression Screening Scale to identify the causes of this depression.

There is a impact of relationships and mirage on this post Partum depression.

There is an impact of employment on this depression.

The Post Partum Depression Screening Scale

The PDSS is a self report questionnaire that is designed to gain information from the mother about her sleeping and eating patterns, her feelings of anxiety and insecurity, cognitive impairments, loss of self esteem and whether or not she could have intention to harm herself. The answers to the questionnaire that the participant gives form a continuum like structure of post partum diagnosis, that is answers range from strongly agrees to strongly disagree. The PDSS instrument is followed up by an interview performed by a clinically trained professional, this person is educated about maternal care and the post partum illness.

The interviewer is blinded to the patients result from the ...