Abstract
Session presented on Saturday, July 26, 2014:
Purpose: To investigate mental health trajectories from the third trimester of pregnancy through four weeks postpartum in Taiwanese women and the correlations of these trajectories with perceived social support and demographic characteristics.
Methods: This study is a repeated measures design. 194 Taiwanese women completed the Chinese Health Questionnaire and Social Support Scale at the 36th gestational week and 1st and 4th weeks postpartum. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify the change tendency and major classes of mental health status among perinatal women. Multinomial logistic regression was then used to determine if demographic characteristics and social support were associated with the classes of mental health trajectories among perinatal women.
Results: Three linear mental health trajectories for perinatal women were identified. The three classes of mental health trajectories among perinatal women were identified as Class 1 ('consistently good perinatal mental health,' 12.4%); Class 2 ('improved perinatal mental health after childbirth,' 71.6%); and Class 3 ('consistently poor perinatal mental health,' 16.0%). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine correlations of the three classes of mental health trajectories with demographic characteristics and social support. Class 1 served as the control group. Social support was significantly related to the three classes of perinatal mental health trajectories. Less social support was associated with lower prenatal mental health scores. Younger age was a risk factor for consistently poor perinatal health. Vaginal delivery was associated with improved mental health after childbirth.
Conclusion: Mental health was worse in the third trimester of pregnancy than postpartum. Less social support was associated with lower prenatal mental health scores, and similarly distributed between women with consistently poor and improved mental health after birth. Health care providers should assess women's mental health status and provide timely interventions during the perinatal period. Social support intervention should be carried out for pregnant women, especially for those with younger age or lower perceived social support.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Lead Author Affiliation
Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Perinatal Mental Health, Women, Trajectory
Recommended Citation
Lin, Pei-Chao and Hung, Chich-Hsiu, "Mental health trajectories and related factors among perinatal Taiwanese women" (2014). INRC (Congress). 133.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2014/presentations_2014/133
Conference Name
25th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Hong Kong
Conference Year
2014
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Mental health trajectories and related factors among perinatal Taiwanese women
Hong Kong
Session presented on Saturday, July 26, 2014:
Purpose: To investigate mental health trajectories from the third trimester of pregnancy through four weeks postpartum in Taiwanese women and the correlations of these trajectories with perceived social support and demographic characteristics.
Methods: This study is a repeated measures design. 194 Taiwanese women completed the Chinese Health Questionnaire and Social Support Scale at the 36th gestational week and 1st and 4th weeks postpartum. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify the change tendency and major classes of mental health status among perinatal women. Multinomial logistic regression was then used to determine if demographic characteristics and social support were associated with the classes of mental health trajectories among perinatal women.
Results: Three linear mental health trajectories for perinatal women were identified. The three classes of mental health trajectories among perinatal women were identified as Class 1 ('consistently good perinatal mental health,' 12.4%); Class 2 ('improved perinatal mental health after childbirth,' 71.6%); and Class 3 ('consistently poor perinatal mental health,' 16.0%). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine correlations of the three classes of mental health trajectories with demographic characteristics and social support. Class 1 served as the control group. Social support was significantly related to the three classes of perinatal mental health trajectories. Less social support was associated with lower prenatal mental health scores. Younger age was a risk factor for consistently poor perinatal health. Vaginal delivery was associated with improved mental health after childbirth.
Conclusion: Mental health was worse in the third trimester of pregnancy than postpartum. Less social support was associated with lower prenatal mental health scores, and similarly distributed between women with consistently poor and improved mental health after birth. Health care providers should assess women's mental health status and provide timely interventions during the perinatal period. Social support intervention should be carried out for pregnant women, especially for those with younger age or lower perceived social support.