Risk and protective factors in the development of postpartum depression

Postpartum depression is one of the most common mood disorders in the first year after birth and may have negative effects on the mother, the baby, and the spouse. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of postpartum depression, risk and protective factors in the development of postpartum depression. Within the scope of the research, 168 mothers who have applied to Istanbul Training and Research Hospital and whose babies ranged from 1 to 12 months were reached. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Birth Satisfaction Scale (BSS) were administered to the participants. It was found that 35% of the participants had a risk of developing postpartum depression. As a result of the analysis, it was found that having previous depression, first pregnancy and not having alive children increases and having high-income level and working during pregnancy reduces the risk of developing postpartum depression. As a result of correlation analysis, while self-esteem, general self-efficacy, perceived social support from family, friend, private person and total perceived social support, quality of care provision, women's personal attributes, stress experienced during birth and total birth satisfaction are increasing, postpartum depression symptoms are decreasing. As a result of logistic regression analyses, having a history of depression was found to be a risk factor that increases the risk of developing postpartum depression and having high self-esteem, working during pregnancy, having high-income, planned pregnancy, low birth stress, high general self-efficacy and high social support from the family were found to be the protective factors that decrease the risk of the developing postpartum depression. Determining the risk factors and protective factors in the development of postpartum depression are thought to be the first step in developing appropriate intervention strategies for postpartum depression.