Examining the Prevalence of Peripartum Depressive Symptoms in a Border Community.

Introduction: Depression is one of the most common complications in pregnancy, affecting 10% to 20% of women. Untreated peripartum depression increases the risk of adverse life events, more considerable distress, homelessness, and illness later in life. This study explored the prevalence of peripartum depression and associated demographic characteristics in a population of low-income, Healthy Start program participants in one New Mexico county along the U.S.-Mexico border where knowledge of depression prevalence is lacking. Materials and Methods: Healthy Start caseworkers routinely administered the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to all pregnant and recently pregnant program participants between 2009 and 2017. Scores for the first prenatal screen, first postpartum screen, and all screens for 1453 women were studied. A score of >10 points out of a possible 30 indicated a positive screen. Screening outcome was examined in relation to age, race, ethnicity, primary language, and trimester of the prenatal screen. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were generated from logistic regression models. Results: Overall, 16.4% of women screened positive for depression. English-speaking women, non-Hispanic white women, and those ages >35 years were more likely to screen positive. Women >35 years also had higher odds of reporting thoughts of self-harm than younger women. Conclusion: In this low-income border population, non-Hispanic white, English-speaking women over the age of 35 were at the greatest risk of peripartum depression. These findings underscore the need for peripartum depression screening in this population.

Spirituality and Resilience Among Mexican American IPV Survivors.

Women with abusive partners use a variety of coping strategies. This study examined the correlation between spirituality, resilience, and intimate partner violence using a cross-sectional survey of 54 Mexican American women living along the U.S.-Mexico border. The meaning-making coping model provides the conceptual framework to explore how spirituality is used as a copying strategy. Multiple ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results indicate women who score higher on spirituality also report greater resilient characteristics. Poisson regression analyses revealed that an increase in level of spirituality is associated with lower number of types of abuse experienced. Clinical, programmatic, and research implications are discussed.

Depression and Substance Use: A Temporal-Ordered Model.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study sought empirical evidence for the self-medication hypothesis. It asked whether diagnosis of depression, together with the use of mental-health care, leads to substance use. METHODS: Data came from the 5-wave, longitudinal Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) Study, an investigation of a cohort of nearly 5,000 births, which over sampled non-marital births. FFCW examined newborns' biological mothers and fathers, all of whom lived in the United States. The adults were initially interviewed between 1998 and 2000 (the period of the cohort's births); they were then re-interviewed for four times over 10 years. FFCW measured mental health-related variables, level of drug use, and social structural and demographic factors, all of which are also measured by the present study. Respondents in our study's two final subsamples had responded to every FFCW interview item we would use in constructing our final model's variables. Our subsample of mothers totaled 3,477 women, from whom 5,987 person-waves were derived. Our subsample of fathers totaled 2,096 men, yielding 3,543 person-waves. RESULTS: We used STATA generalized estimating equations for panel data, and found some evidence to support the self-medication hypothesis. In addition, our results indicated that the relationship of substance use to the use of mental-health care was gender-specific. Conclusions/Importance: Empirical evidence from this study only partially supported the self-medication hypothesis; the co-occurrence of depression and substance abuse in our sample was also reflective of social structural and demographic variables and of prior substance use variables.

Benefits of increased home-visitation services: exploring a case management model.

This study examined outcome measures of a home-visitation program that provided services to first-born children and their parents. Home-visitation workers conducted pretest-posttest assessments for prenatal and postpartum periods for 109 families. Families were assessed using the Revised North Carolina Family Assessment Scale. Paired sample t tests were used to assess effect. Ordinary least squares regression measured effect of increased home-visitation services on family well-being. In this study, program participants displayed significantly higher posttest scores on social support, caregiver characteristics, family interaction measures, and a reduction in personal problems affecting parenting. Improved scores were significantly related to increased numbers of home-visitation services. The results are promising as participants were observed to make positive improvements in family resiliency.

Perinatal outcomes among Mexican Americans: a review of an epidemiological paradox.

This article presents a review of 3 possible explanations for the seemingly apparent paradox of favorable birthweight outcomes among Mexican Americans. Evidence is grouped into 3 explanations: cultural, under-reporting, and bio-medical. With an emphasis on the link between acculturation among Mexican Americans and their perinatal outcomes, the key correlates associated with lower rates of low birth weight (LBW) are examined and critiqued. This review of the literature also explores policy and health implications for this important public health issue.