Comparing prevalence rates of depressive symptoms in postpartum and nonpostpartum samples in a low-income community
Date
2006-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
Within the medical models, postpartum depression is constructed as a mental illness, that
women are predisposed to during the postpartum period because of the biological and
physiological changes that occur before, during and after childbirth.
The present study aimed to determine whether childbirth increases the risk of developing
depressive symptomatology in the first six months after delivery. The objective of the study
was to examine the concept of postpartum depression by analyzing the difference in
depressive symptom rates between 41 postpartum women and 254 male and female (who
had not given birth in the previous six months) community members residing in a semi-rural
area of South Africa. This objective was reached by using a cross-sectional survey research
design. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to elicit the quantitative data. Several
independent t-tests were conducted to determine the following (i) whether low-income women
three months postpartum had higher BDI scores in comparison to a combined gendered
community sample, and (ii) whether low-income women six months postpartum had higher
BDI scores in comparison to a combined gendered community sample. The results indicated
that the postpartum women did not experience elevated rates of depressive symptoms at
three months or at six months in comparison to the community sample. Men in the 2003
community sample displayed significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms than the sixmonth
postpartum women. These findings do not support the assumption that childbirth
predisposes women to psychological vulnerability during the postpartum period.
Description
Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.
Keywords
Depressive symptoms, Postpartum, Low-income communities, Beck Depression Inventory, Dissertations -- Psychology, Theses -- Psychology