Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Infant Health Practices Among Low-Income Women (original) (raw)
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Infant Health Care Use and Maternal Depression
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 1999
To determine whether women who frequently bring their neonates for problem-oriented primary care visits or emergency department visits are at elevated risk of having depressive symptoms. Design: Analysis of 2 prospective cohort studies of mothers and their infants: (1) a telephone interview study of mothers and infants after birth at an urban teaching hospital (the hospital cohort) and (2) the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, a nationally representative sample of women who had live births in 1988. Participants: A total of 1015 women in the hospital cohort surveyed at 3 and 8 weeks post partum and 6779 women with data from the national survey. Main Outcome Measure: Depressive symptoms above the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale cutoff score of 15. Results: After controlling for sociodemographic variables and parity, women exhibited high levels of depressive symptoms if their infants had more than 1 problemoriented primary care visit (hospital cohort: odds ratio, 2.0 [95% confidence interval, 1.1-4.3]; national survey cohort: odds ratio, 2.0 [95% confidence interval, 1.5-3.0]). Women were more likely to have high levels of depressive symptoms if their infants had even 1 emergency department visit (hospital cohort: odds ratio, 3.2 [95% confidence interval, 1.5-6.9]). Frequent wellchild visits were not associated with maternal depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Neonatal health care use patterns predict women at risk for postpartum depression. Recognition of these signature patterns of service use by pediatric health care providers may facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression and improve outcomes for women and their families.
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2012
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms at 5 and 9 months postpartum in a low-income and predominantly Hispanic sample, and evaluate the impact on infant weight gain, physical health, and sleep at 9 months. Participants included 132 low-income mother-infant pairs who participated in a larger investigation on prenatal care utilization. Mothers were interviewed in person 24-48 h after birth and by phone at 5 and 9 months postpartum. Clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms were reported in 33% of the women at 5 months postpartum, and 38% at 9 months postpartum. Higher depressive symptoms at 5 months were associated with less infant weight gain from 5 to 9 months, p = .002, increased infant physical health concerns, p = .05, and increased infant nighttime awakenings at 9 months, p = .001. Results suggest a striking prevalence of clinically significant depressive symptoms through 9 months postpartum in this very low income, largely ethnic minority sample. Further, the effects of postpartum depression include significant ramifications for infant physical health.
Advances in neonatal care : official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, 2015
This study examined factors associated with postpartum depressive symptoms in mothers with premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A total of 113 new mothers with very low-birth-weight infants in their initial NICU admission were recruited from 2 urban hospitals servicing low-income minority communities. This study employed a cross-sectional design. Data were collected during the infants' postpartum NICU admission and included maternal demographic information (eg, age, education, race, living with the baby's father), infant illness severity (Neurobiologic Risk Score from infant's medical record), and maternal psychological measures (the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Questionnaire, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The findings indicated that 47 (42%) women had elevated postpartum depressive symptoms and 33 (30%) women had elevated postpartum posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSs). Factors a...
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Maternal Depression During the First Three Years of Child Rearing
Journal of Women's Health, 2011
Background: This longitudinal study examined maternal depression status from birth of a child to 36 months of age using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Methods: Maternal depression was assessed using the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and defined as a score of ‡ 16. For this study, early onset depression was defined as depression within the 6 months after birth, and late onset depression was depression onset when the child was ‡ 24 months old. Chronic depression was defined as depression that started within 6 months after birth and lasted until 24 months of age or longer. Results: The prevalence of maternal depression was 32.2% for early onset, 7.4% for late onset, and 13.4% for chronic depression. The prevalence of maternal depression was highest at 1 month, decreased at 6 months, and then remained fairly stable until 36 months. Mothers 18-24 years of age, of black race, unemployed, with lower social support, single, or with poor general health had a higher prevalence of both early and chronic depression compared to other groups. Conclusions: Younger maternal age, poverty, lower education, and lack of social support were all significantly associated with increased maternal depression in multivariate regression models. Younger age, black race, unemployment, single status, lack of social support, and poor general health were all risk factors for increased prevalence of maternal depression.
A Model for Maternal Depression
Journal of Women's Health, 2010
With the awareness of maternal depression as a prevalent public health issue and its important link to child physical and mental health, attention has turned to how healthcare providers can respond effectively. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs are strongly related to depression, particularly for low-income women. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends psychosocial screening of pregnant women at least once per trimester, yet screening is uncommonly done. Research suggests that a collaborative care approach improves identification, outcomes, and costeffectiveness of care. This article presents The Perinatal Mental Health Model, a community-based model that developed screening and referral partnerships for use in community obstetric settings in order to specifically address the psychosocial needs of culturally diverse, low-income mothers.
Maternal Depressive Symptoms as a Risk Factor for the Development of Children in Poverty
1997
Higher rates of mental health problems, including depression, have consistently been documented among lower-income samples, and the highest rates of depression have been found among low-income mothers with young children. This study examined maternal depressive symptoms as a risk factor for the development of children who are already at risk by virtue of their poverty status; the study also examined factors that may intensify or minimize the influence of maternal depressed mood over time. The sample consisted of 177 mothers from the control group of the JOBS Child Outcomes study. Initial and follow-up versions of the CES-D and HOME scale were completed to measure, respectively, mothers' self-reported depressive symptoms and the quality of the home environment. The Behavior Problem Index (BPI) and the Bracken Concept Scale were also completed to measure mothers' reports of their children's behavior and children's school readiness, respectively. Results showed that: (1) children whose mothers report higher levels of depressive symptoms are at risk for more behavior problems and lower school readiness; (2) mothers who received job training or worked during this time period experienced a significant decline in depressive symptoms; and (3) an increase in the mother's depressive symptoms can lead to poorer outcomes for the child, although experiencing a decrease does not necessarily wipe out the effects of the earlier depression. (Contains 17 references.) (EV)
Maternal and child health journal, 2016
Objective A higher rate of depressive symptoms is found among mothers of children with disabilities compared to other parents. However, there is a lack of study of mothers with children <3 years of age participating in Early Intervention (EI) programs. This study aims to more fully describe the extent of mood disorders in these mothers including estimated prevalence, severity and factors associated with maternal mental health, using gold standard clinical diagnostic and symptom measures, and test models associating depressive symptoms with contextual factors and child behavior. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 106 women who had at least one child enrolled in EI. Mothers were interviewed and completed reliable, valid measures to evaluate mental health, health status, family conflict, parent-child interaction, self-efficacy, social support, child behavioral problems, hardship, endangerment, and child disability. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses wer...
Maternal age and depressive symptoms in a low-income sample
Journal of Community Psychology, 2008
In this study, depressive symptoms of 2,011 European-American, African-American, and Latina low-income mothers at approximately 14 months after birth of the child were examined. Maternal age was used as a predictor of depressive symptoms. Overall, 31.9% of mothers were classified as depressed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Younger mothers tended to have more depressive symptoms among European-American mothers only. Latina mothers had fewer depressive symptoms than African-American and European-American mothers. Number of children 5 years and under in the home was positively related to depressive symptoms. In addition, mothers with higher levels of self-mastery reported fewer symptoms of depression. Implications for preventing maternal depressive symptoms are discussed.
Preventing infant and child morbidity and mortality due to maternal depression
Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology, 2016
This review provides an overview of perinatal depression and its impacts on the health of mothers, their newborns, and young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We define and describe the urgency and scope of the problem of perinatal depression for mothers, while highlighting some specific issues such as suicidal ideation and decreased likelihood to seek health care. Pathways through which stress may link maternal depression to childhood growth and development (e.g., the hypo-pituitary axis) are discussed, followed by a summary of the adverse effects of depression on birth outcomes, parenting practices, and child growth and development. Although preliminary studies on the association between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal and child mortality exist, more research on these topics is needed. We describe the available interventions and suggest strategies to reduce maternal depressive symptoms in LMICs, including integration of services with existing primary ...