ASSESSMENT OF PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AMONG POSTPARTUM MOTHERS IN EASTERN ZONE OF TIGRAY

Deribachew H/Mariam*, Berhe Dessalegn, Zaid Tadesse and Desta Siyoum

ABSTRACT

Background: postpartum depression is a clinical condition, in which women experience depressed mood, excessive anxiety, insomnia, and change in weight during the postpartum period. It affects up to 30 % of mothers who gave birth, which result in raised load of care givers, inability of mothers to care their child, incapability of children to learn new things and has an effect on over all development of a country. This study therefore is intended to determine the prevalence of postpartum depression and identifying its associated factors among mothers who gave birth in Eastern Zone of Tigray. Method: Sample size is 633 mothers. The study was done by using a multistage sampling technique. Result: Out of 633 mothers 616 were involved in the study of which 117(19%) were experienced postpartum depression. Fear of birth 3.689 (2.351, 5.790), the appearance of depressive like symptom in the first two weeks 2.728(1.737, 4.284) and having previous history of depression 5.94(2.944, 11.963) were found to be significantly associated with post partum depression. Conclusion: The current study point out that significant proportion of mothers (19%) who gave birth in eastern Tigray demonstrated depression during post partum period. Relatively, this indicates how high the prevalence of postpartum depression is. Being in fear of bearing a child, demonstrating depression like symptoms during the first two weeks of postpartum period and having previous history of depression are found to be strongly associated with post partum depression.

Keywords: Prevalence, Postpartum, Depression.