Objective: This study aimed to develop a maternal blues scale through bonding attachments to predict postpartum blues.
Method: The research design consisted of three stages: 1) phenomenology design and focus group discussion; 2) development and construction of the maternal blues scale, and 3) a cross-sectional study to measure validation of the scales. Respondents were postpartum mothers in the first week after birth. The sample comprised 501 participants. Sampling was done by consecutive sampling at the Public Health Center (PUSKESMAS) in the South Jakarta area. Data analysis used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), correlation, and a diagnostic testing .
Results: Item analysis produced 32 items consisting of 24 items regarding the mother's role and duties as internal factors and eight factors involving social, cultural, and economic support as external factors. Both factors were valid and reliable in predicting postpartum blues with indicators (t loading factors ≥ 1.96, standardized loading factor (SLF) ≥.50, internal factors: construct reliability (CR) ≥ .70 and extraction variants (VE) ≥ .50 and external factors: CR ≥ .74 to .83 VE ≥ .50 to .63). The relationship with Kennerley's maternity blues as a gold standard was significant. Internal factors had a score of 53, with a sensitivity of 60.2%. The external factors score was 19, with a sensitivity of 77.3%.
Conclusion: The new scale for postpartum blues prediction developed displayed internal consistency and validity of each indicator (internal and external factors) that was good (CR ≥ .70; VE ≥ .50). This scale provides a feasible tool to predict postpartum blues.
METHODS: A hundred and fifty-four women who were 6 weeks postpartum attending the postnatal clinic between May and July 1995 at Maternal and Child Health Clinic, Seremban, Malaysia. Maternal socio-demography, depression by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), postnatal care and practices e.g. pantang larang (prohibited behaviour and practices), diet and partnering were evaluated.
RESULTS: Postnatal depression was 3.9%. Indians had the highest rate at 8.5% as compared to Malays (3.0%) and none in Chinese (p < 0.05). There were no demographic differences in the study groups. Average score of EPDS was 4.05 which ranged from 0 to 20. During the confinement 85.7% of women took special diet; 64.3% followed pantang larang and 78.8% had someone to look after them. The incidence of postnatal depression is low in Malaysia at 3.9%. Majority of Malaysian women still observed the traditional postnatal beliefs and practices.
AIMS: Studies have examined mental health literacy of maternal postnatal depression, but there are no similar studies of paternal postnatal depression, which we sought to rectify.
METHODS: A sample of 406 British adults was presented with vignettes describing cases of either maternal or paternal postnatal depression. Based on the vignettes, participants were asked to report if they thought anything was wrong with the targets and, if so, to describe what they thought was wrong. Participants also rated the targets on a range of attitudinal dimensions.
RESULTS: Participants were more likely to indicate that something was wrong when the target was female (97.0%) compared to male (75.9%). Of those who believed something was wrong, 90.1% of participants correctly described the female target as experiencing postnatal depression, but only 46.3% did so for the male target. Participants also held more positive attitudes toward the female target than the male target.
CONCLUSIONS: There is a gender binary in symptom recognition of postnatal depression, which highlights the need for greater awareness of paternal postnatal depression.