Socioeconomic status, intimate partner violence, mode of delivery and postpartum depression among mothers with six weeks old infants

Abstract

Postpartum depression is a global public health concern. It is a clinical depression with onset at 4 weeks postpartum. The objectives of the study included; To find out the prevalence of postpartum depression in Mbarara regional referral hospital. Examine the association between socioeconomic status and postpartum depression among mothers with six weeks old infants. Find out the difference in levels of intimate partner violence among depressed mothers and non-depressed mothers with six weeks old infants. Determine the association between mode of delivery and postpartum depression among mothers with six weeks old infants. Examine whether the association between socioeconomic status and postpartum depression is mediated by intimate partner violence and moderated by mode of delivery. This was a quantitative study that used correlational research design, standardised tools and sociodemographic questionnaire were used to collect data from 162 respondents who consented to be part of this study. Eligible participants were selected by using purposive sampling method. SPSS version 22 was used in data entry and analysis. Prevalent rates of postpartum depression were measured using descriptive statistics, frequency tables were used to get percentages. Hypothesis 2 was tested using independent sample T-Test. Hypothesis three was measured using Chi-square. Hypothesis 4 was tested using Chi-Square and hypothesis five and six were tested using process. Results indicated that the association between socioeconomic status and postpartum depression was significant especially among mothers with the lowest socioeconomic status. Differences in levels of intimate partner violence among mothers who are depressed and mothers who are not was also found to be significant. However, there was no significant association between maternal mode of delivery and postpartum depression. In conclusion, this study found out that prevalence of postpartum depression in Mbarara regional referral hospital is at 34% and is associated with low socioeconomic status, intimate partner violence, level of education, unplanned pregnancy and marital status.