The relationship of social support and anxiety with postpartum depression

This study was aimed to be carried out as a descriptive study in order to learn the relationship of social support and anxiety with postpartum depression. During the study process, the data were collected online via Google forms. Evren are women who have given birth within the last year and have a baby of 0-12 months. In the process of determining the sample, the appropriate sampling method was used. The criteria for inclusion in the study are people with a baby aged 0-12 months. The exclusion criterion in the study is only women who have passed 12 months postpartum. While determining the number of samples, the number of samples was determined as 385 by considering the 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. The study started on September 10, 2022 and the data collection process began on October 20, 2022. The data collection process was completed on 20 December 2022. While collecting data, three separate scales an done demographic information form were used. The scales used; Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and Beck Anxiety Inventory. It was determined that the distribution of the research data was normal. In this respect, independent sample t-test and ANOVA test were used in the analyzes. In addition, the effects of the anxiety level and postpartum depression level of the participants on the perception of social support were tested with regression analysis. It was determined that a significant part of the participants had a fear of childbirth and had a cesarean delivery. Approximately 45% of the participants have moderate to severe anxiety levels. It was determined that the participants whose income level was lower than their expenses had a lower perception of social support and higher levels of anxiety, whereas there was no difference in their postpartum depression levels. As the anxiety level of the participants increases, their depression levels also increase. In addition, it was concluded in the study that anxiety and depression levels have a negative effect on the perception of social support and negatively affect it.