Affiliations 

  • 1 University of Malaya Medical Centre
  • 2 Universiti Teknologi MARA
MyJurnal

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the depression and coping strategies used by postnatal mothers during the postpartum period.This study used cross-sectional design and was conducted at the University Malaya Medical Centre from November 2013 to January 2014. This study involved 150 respondents (postnatal mothers) and used instrumentation adopted from the Malay version of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Malay version of Brief COPE. The results showed 32 (21.3%) postnatal mothers have had severe depression. Emotional coping strategies were reported to be the most used by postnatal mothers (mean = 4.77 ± 0.70). There was a significant association between problem-focused coping strategies and race (p=0.045) where it was mostly used by Malay participants (mean = 3.39±0.46). There was a mild negative relation between EPDS and problem focus (r=-0.168, p=0.04). On the other hand, there was a mild positive relation between depression level and avoidant emotion (r= 0.162, p= 0.047). The psychological support from nurses and family was needed to improve depression and coping strategies used so that it can improve health outcome among postnatal mothers.