TITLE:
The Agreement Rate about Unintended Pregnancy and Its Relationship with Postpartum Depression in Parents of Preterm and Term Infants
AUTHORS:
Maryam Ghorbani, Mahrokh Dolatian, Jamal Shams, Hamid Alavi-Majd
KEYWORDS:
Prematurity, Parents, Depression, Postpartum Depression, Unintended Pregnancy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.5 No.9,
September
25,
2015
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Postpartum depression (PPD) affects women’s health and self-confidence, and infant’s social, emotional, cognitive and even physical development. Studies show that parents of preterm infants frequently experience symptoms of depression and anxiety. Women with unintended pregnancy are subjected to more risk of depression than women with planned pregnancy. Unintended pregnancy may lead to increased maternal exposure to psychosocial stressors, reduced social support by the spouse, increased levels of depressive symptoms and decreased life satisfaction. Findings: No significant difference was observed between term and preterm infants’ mothers (p = 0.85) in terms of postpartum depression. However, two groups of fathers in terms of depression showed a significant difference (p = 0.045). McNemar’s test showed that parents of term infants (K = 0.322, p = 0.077), and parents of preterm infants (k = 0.17, p = 0.144) agreed with each other on unintended pregnancy. Conclusion: Fathers of preterm infants are at higher risk for mental disorders than fathers of term infants and they need more attention in future studies.