Postpartum Depression (PPD) is a debilitating
disorder that is mostly unrecognized among
women after childbirth. The study assesses the
prevalence and predictors of postpartum
depression among nursing mothers attending
immunization clinic in Lagos Nigeria. The design
adopted for this study is a cross-sectional design.
Target population of this study are nursing
mothers attending immunization clinic in Lagos
and balloting sampling technique was used to
select 290 participants. The instrument used for
this study was a self-administered questionnaire
with validity established and reliability done
through pilot test using Cronbach Alpha with
coefficient value of 0.84. Data collected was
analyzed with Statistical Package of Social
Science (SPSS) version 21. Descriptive statistics
was used to generate frequencies and
percentages, while Chi-square was used to test the
significant association that exists between the
variables of interest at p < 0.05 and 95%
confidence interval. The results are presented in
tables and charts as appropriate. The result of this
study shows that the prevalence rate of
postpartum depression is low using Edinburgh
Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) with cut off =
10. Further findings reported in this study is that
age is significantly associated with the prevalence of postpartum depression with (X =37.119, df=3,
p=0.000), while socio-economic status, family
history and postnatal week is the predictors of
postpartum depression with (X =9.872, df =3,
p=0.0200), (X =70.212, df=1, p=0.0001) and
(X =45.623, df=2, p=0.000). Conversely, a small
number(six) of the independent variables are not
predictors of the prevalence of postpartum
depression. But an association exists between lack of sufficient support during pregnancy and at early stage of childbirth and prevalence of postpartum depression of mothers. It is therefore recommended that early screening, creation of a
support group and awareness program on
postpartum depression could prevent mental
health problems among nursing mothers
- Afolabi | Wasiu | Adebowale | afolabiwasiu@yahoo.co.uk | +234 802 393 4853, Rasheed | Tajudeen | Olusegun | rashtaj2005@yahoo.com | 08038007373
- Postpartum depression, prevalence, predictors, nursing mothers, Nigeria
- PREDICTORS OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AMONG NURSING MOTHERS ATTENDING IMMUNIZATION CLINIC IN LAGOS NIGERIA
