Psychological Distress in Healthy Low-Risk First-Time Mothers during the Postpartum Period: An Exploratory Study

Christina Murphey, Patricia Carter, Larry R. Price, Jane Dimmitt Champion and Francine Nichols

Nursing Research and Practice, 2017, vol. 2017, 1-12

Abstract:

Psychological distress, defined as depression, anxiety, and insomnia in this study, can occur following the birth of a baby as new mothers, in addition to marked physiological changes, are faced with adapting to new roles and responsibilities. We investigated the cooccurrence of stress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia in mothers during the postpartum period; tested the feasibility of study methods and procedures for use in this population; and identified new mothers interest in using cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) as an intervention for reducing psychological distress. We recruited healthy, low-risk, English speaking first-time mothers, ages 18–32 years, with healthy babies ( ), within 12 months of an uncomplicated birth. Participants completed the PSS, HAM-D 14 , HAM-A 17 , and PSQI 19 . No problems were encountered with study procedures. Mothers reported a high interest (4.9) in the potential use of CES to treat or prevent the occurrence of psychological distress. All participants ( ) reported moderate levels of depression and anxiety, while 75.8% ( ) reported insomnia. PSS scores were within the norms for healthy women. Further research is recommended to investigate if our findings can be replicated or if different patterns of associations emerge. Implications for clinical practice are addressed.

Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/NRP/2017/8415083.pdf (application/pdf)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/NRP/2017/8415083.xml (text/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hin:jnlnrp:8415083

DOI: 10.1155/2017/8415083

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Nursing Research and Practice from Hindawi
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mohamed Abdelhakeem ().