Information, thoughts and practices of health personnels in relation to maternity blues

This descriptive study has been carried out in order to determine health personnels' information, thoughts and practices in relation to the maternity blues. The study was conducted on health care workers in Family Health Centers and Obstetrics and Gynecology Services of 2nd Health Care Institutions in Söke, Aydin. The sample included 125 participants. Self-reported data were collected via a questionnaire prepared by the researcher, after official permissions, approvals of the institutional ethics committee and oral-written informed consent. The questions about knowledge were evaluated according to the literature by grouping them as true (1 points) and false (0 points) out of 45 points. Data were evaluated with Chi-square, Fisher Exact Chi-square, Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney-U tests. P< 0.05 was accepted as significant in all analyses. Participants' mean age and average working years in the profession were 39.78±7.31 and 17.40±7.81 years, respectively. Of participants 81.6% were females and 44.8% had bachelor's degree. 70.0% of participants who reported having a moderate knowledge of maternity blues (56.0%), and got it during professional training (67.1%) hade a moderate knowledge of maternity blues. Sample's 76.0% wanted maternity blues training. Of the sample 66.4% think maternity blues as a health problem, 63.0% care about helping mothers and 80.0% think that education of healthcare staff is necessary. Of participants faced with the maternity blues (45.6%) 77.2% explained that the process is normal/temporary, 56.1% provided the expression of mother's feelings, 61.4% of them with spouse and family support. However, they saw themselves in this regard insufficient (79.2%). The information and practices of nurses, midwives and personnel working in community health centers and children's clinics were inadequate (p<0.005). As a result, although health personnels have a positive attitude to the maternity blues, their knowledge and practices are inadequate. It is determined that this is affected by a variety of institutional, professional and individual factors. Therefore, supporting all health personnels caring mothers before and after graduation with planned and continious trainings and institutional and legal arrangements in order to increase their averaness would be very important. Key Words: Health personnel, maternity blues, knowledge, attitude, behavior.