Postpartum support levels and stress coping styles of postpartum women and evaluation of the relationship between them

It is known that the most important health problems that negatively affect women's lives occur in the peripartum period. Although perceived positively by many women, the postpartum period is a developmental crisis period in which significant physical, emotional and social changes occur. The ability to cope with stress is the determinant of how the woman will adapt to her new responsibilities and motherhood role. Failure to provide women with the support they need in this process can lead to physical and psychosocial problems in mother and baby. This descriptive cross-sectional study, which we planned to determine the support levels and stress coping styles of postpartum women and to evaluate the relationship between them, included 143 postpartum women who applied to Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Gülveren Education Family Medicine Unit between 23.02.2023-23.08.2023. The participants were administered the personal information form prepared by the researcher, the Postpartum Support Questionnaire (PSQ), the Ways of Coping Inventory and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale in the questionnaire form. It was determined that the puerperas who participated in the study needed postpartum support significantly, but the support they received was not sufficient. The mean total score of the "importance of need" dimension of the Postpartum Support Scale was 142.3±47.45 and the mean total score of the "support received" dimension was 99.51± 55.62. It was observed that the need for support became more important as the "submissive approach" score decreased among the sub-dimensions of the Stress Coping Styles Scale (p=0.039). In the "received support" dimension, it was found that the support received increased as the "self-confident approach" and "seeking social support" scores increased (p=0.002, p=0.003, respectively), and the support received increased as the scores decreased in the "helpless approach" and "submissive approach" sub-dimensions (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively). The findings obtained from this study support the idea that informing postpartum women and their close environment about the importance of postpartum support can facilitate women to develop positive coping methods.