Psycho-social Factors Associated with Depression in Pregnant Women.

Lee,  Myoung Eun; Kweon,  Young Ran

doi:2011.20.3.252

J Korean Acad Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs > Volume 20(3); 2011 > Article

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 2011;20(3):252-260.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2011.20.3.252 Published online September 30, 2011.

Psycho-social Factors Associated with Depression in Pregnant Women.

Myoung Eun Lee, Young Ran Kweon

¹Gwanju Gwansangu Mental Health Center, Korea.
²Department of Nursing, Chosun University, Korea. yrk@chosun.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of the study was to investigate the psycho-social factors such as self-esteem, stress, and family support that affect the depression in pregnant women. METHODS: The participants were 149 pregnant women who were seen at the urban G and M woman hospital. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from January 10 to May 20, 2011, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Coefficients, and Stepwise Multiple Regression with SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: Mean age was 31 years, and 28.9% of the participants reported depression. Depression in the pregnant women showed a negative correlation with self-esteem (r=-.47, p<.001) and family support (r=-.38, p<.001), but a positive correlation with stress (r=.42, p<.001). In addition, variables that predicted depression in pregnant women were general health condition, stress, self-esteem, communication with husband, and planned pregnancy (39.0%). CONCLUSION: The findings from this study indicate the need to screen pregnant women for depression. There is also a need for programs to prevent depression in pregnant women and assess risk considering psycho-social factors.

Key Words: Depression; Pregnancy; Woman