First-time mothers' confidence mood and stress in the first months postpartum. A cohort study.
Sex Reprod Healthc
; 17: 43-49, 2018 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30193719
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
The aims were to describe first-time mothers' confidence, mood and stress 2 and 6â¯months postpartum and to investigate the extent to which the tools measuring maternal confidence and maternal mood used alone or together at 2â¯months postpartum predict first-time maternal confidence, mood and stress 6â¯months postpartum.DESIGN:
A cohort including 513 first-time mothers' self-reported questionnaires concerning three scales The Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) collected 2 and 6â¯months postpartum. Descriptive statistic, simple and multiple linear regression analysis were used.RESULTS:
First-time mothers' with confidence scores below the clinical cut-off (KPCS <40) fell significantly from 25% to 14% (pâ¯<â¯0.001), symptoms of depression above the clinical cut-off (EPDSâ¯≥â¯8) fell significantly from 16% to 12% (pâ¯<â¯0.001), and parental stress as a mother fell significantly from a mean of 32.88 to 30.98 (pâ¯<â¯0.001). The KPCS assessed at 2â¯months postpartum was the strongest predictor for both maternal confidence (R2â¯=â¯0.38) and parental stress (R2â¯=â¯0.26) 6â¯months postpartum.CONCLUSION:
The results support the assumption that parenthood is a complicated period for first-time mothers characterised by low confidence, symptoms of depression and high stress which improve over time for the majority of mothers. The KPCS at 2â¯months postpartum was the strongest predictor of the measures used. Further research is needed to identify parents who are struggling, especially for health professionals' whose role is to support parents in their parenthood the first period after birth.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Depression, Postpartum
/
Affect
/
Depression
/
Postpartum Period
/
Mothers
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Evaluation_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Newborn
Language:
En
Journal:
Sex Reprod Healthc
Journal subject:
ENFERMAGEM
/
MEDICINA REPRODUTIVA
/
OBSTETRICIA
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article