Postpartal adaptation and vulnerability to depression was assessed in a sample of eighty women during the third and eighth weeks after childbirth. A questionnaire (IPA) was developed to assess postpartal adaptation in five areas: activities of daily living, labor-delivery events, mother-infant interactions, social supports, and construal of self and future. Other questionnaires included a psychological screening inventory (PSI), two depression measurements (Beck's Inventory and Pitt's Questionnaire), and a maternal assessment scale (MAS). Data were processed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, developed by Nie and Associates, Version 7 procedure, Northwestern University, Vogelback Computing Center, to obtain correlation analyses. Results suggested several areas of postpartal adaptation to be correlated with depression reactions after childbirth: moods, sleep, eating schedule, energy level, negative emotions toward infant, and items assessing social supports and self-construal.

A replication of "Stresses Experienced by Primiparous Women in the First Two Weeks Postpartum" (Wolfel, 1986) was undertaken to identify stressors experienced by women in the first 2 weeks postpartum and to compare results with the original study. Because of changes in the standard of care, a study replication was desirable. The replication sample consisted of 20 primiparous women who completed the Postpartum Stress Questionnaire (PSQ), a new tool developed by Wolfel. Descriptive data displayed the existence of stress. Analysis of variance, t tests, and correlation coefficients were used to find significant correlations between demographic characteristics and PSQ responses. Age correlated positively with stress. Married women reported stress in physiological and psychological areas. Women who had a miscarriage were more likely to exhibit postpartal stress. No relationship was found between PSQ and variables of previous experience with child care, length of hospital stay, use of pain medication, or prenatal caretaker.

The purpose of this investigation was twofold. First, to investigate the attitudes and feelings of a group of normal women expecting their first child. Second, to evaluate the effectiveness of a family centred maternity programme in promoting a positive feeling towards the infant and in terms of preparing the mothers for their new role. The subjects were 94 married women who attended prenatal classes with their husbands. They were white, Caucasian, with a mean age of 27 years and a mean level of education of 14 and one half years. The women were raised in North America or the British Commonwealth. All women delivered a single full term infant and experienced no major medical complications of either themselves or their infant during pregnancy, delivery or the postpartum period. Each woman completed a series of questionnaires relating to attitude towards pregnancy, labour and delivery, childbirth, the new baby and the hospital experience. These measures were completed at four points in time; in the ninth month of pregnancy, while in hospital and after one and five weeks at home. In addition, she completed the Depression Adjective Checklists, the Beck Depression Index and the Pleasant Events Schedule in the ninth month of pregnancy and in the sixth week after delivery of her child. The Depression Adjective Checklist was also completed each day that the woman was in hospital. Major comparisons were (a) type of maternity hospital programme experienced — a family centred maternity programme versus a more traditional maternity programme and (b) type of delivery — whether vaginal or caesarian. Multivariate analyses conducted on the set of variables at each time period revealed a significant difference between the two groups of women depending upon which hospital programme they experienced, both while in hospital and after they had been home for one week. Univariate analyses revealed significant difference between the two groups on their responses to the following variables: The women in the family centred maternity programme had a more positive attitude towards their babies while in hospital; considered that they received more experience in how to care for their babies in hospital and perceived that they obtained more help from the hospital in preparing them for their mothering role. There was no difference in attitude towards the baby once the women had been home for one week caring for and interacting with their babies. A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that there were no differences in the level of depressive affect between the women in the two types of programme over the time periods involved. Multivariate, analyses of the sets of variables at each time period indicated a significant difference between those who had a vaginal delivery and those who had a caesarian section. Those women who had a caesarian section had a less positive attitude towards their labour and delivery. There was no difference between these two groups of women in either their attitude towards their infant or their feelings of self-confidence. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that those women who had caesarians were more depressed after the birth of their baby than those women who delivered their baby vaginally. Although the women in the present study were not clinically depressed there were significant correlations between levels of depressive affect and other variables. For example, in the ninth month of pregnancy depressive affect was related to a less positive attitude towards pregnancy; in hospital depressive affect was related to a less positive attitude towards labour and delivery and towards the baby; at six weeks postpartum depressive affect was related to a less positive attitude towards the baby. The discussion centred around the implication of the findings for hospital programmes and prenatal class curricula, current behavioural theories of depression and the myth of maternal instinct. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The reformulated learned helplessness model posits that individuals who make internal, stable and global attributions for undesired outcomes are more likely than others to become depressed when faced with important life events that are perceived as uncontrollable. Seligman, Abramson, Semmel and von Baeyer (1979) found significant correlations between attributional style and concurrent measures of depression in a sample of college undergraduates. The purpose of the present study was to address two questions arising from the Seligman et al. study within the context of the event of childbirth. The first question was whether the relationship between depressive attributional style and concurrent depression found in college undergraduates could be extended to women anticipating the birth of their first child. The second question was whether depressive attributional style would have predictive utility with this group, that is, whether women's prenatal attributional style would be predictive of depression in the first week postpartum. The results provide neglible support for the notion of depressive attributional style as defined by the reformulated learned helplessness hypothesis. Although this study was not designed to test hypotheses based upon any other model of depression, the findings were consistent with Beck's (1967) formulation. Several alternative explanations for the discrepancy between the present findings and those reported by Seligman et al. are discussed. Notably, 17% of this relatively homogeneous sample of primiparous women reported depression of clinical severity during the first week postpartum. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

M.Cur. / The birth of a baby is a life-changing event in a person's life. During this time there are expectations of positive feelings. The new mother experience ambivalent feelings about the new phase in her life. These feelings can range from a feeling of excitement, postpartum-tears, anxiety about the baby's care, depression and psychosis with an onset in the postpartum period. The goal of this research was to identify indicators for postpartum depression, that are present during pregnancy, during the delivery and in the postpartum period, in order to identify and treat a high risk client for postpartum depression in time. In this way mental health will be promoted. In the first part of the research, an exploratory, descriptive design was used within the context of a private and provincial baby clinic on the Westrand. The research firstly consisted of a literature study about the indicators for postpartum depression. A questionnaire was compiled from this literature study and it was used to collect data in a private and provincial clinic. A descriptive and explanatory design was used in the second part of the research study, to determine a connection between the indicators of postpartum depression and a diagnosis of postpartum depression. The test sample comprised of all the women who visited a postpartum baby clinic (private as well as provincial) in the postpartum period, who's baby was six months or younger. The questionnaire was completed with their visit to the baby clinic and then returned to the respective fieldworkers.