Postnatal depressive mood in Turkish women

Abstract

The aim of this study was measure the prevalence and influencing factors of depressive mood after delivery. We performed this study on 912 women who gave birth at Maternity Hospital in Bursa/ Turkey. We used Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) and a questionnaire in order to obtain the women's backgrounds and the possible risk factor characteristics. The ZSDS and questionnaire were filled out within 1 week after the delivery, by means of face-to-face interviews at the hospital, and 1 month after delivery all the women were visited at their homes and the ZSDS was performed again. In our study, 18% of the mothers (164/912) scored 60 and over in the ZSDS 1 week after childbirth. This percentage had fallen to 9.8% (89/912) 1 month after childbirth. The prevalence of maternity blues in our study was 13.1%. In terms of depression, we found no significant differences regarding age, fertility characteristics, length of labor, residence after childbirth, help after childbirth, breast-feeding practices and the health of the baby. Low educational and economic levels were found to be effective factors in postnatal mood for our population. They may also be risk factors for postnatal depression.