Abstract :
Introduction: Depression in the postnatal period women is one of the major psychological disorders
among reproductive - age women. It is associated with undesirable consequences for mothers as well
as their children. Throughout the world, the reported prevalence of postpartum depression ranges from
3.5% to 33%, depending on type, severity and time since delivery. This study assessed the depression in
postnatal period women and its associated factors attending a hospital of Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal.
Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among postpartum
mothers of Pokhara Metropolitan. A quantitative survey method was adapted for collecting the required
information. A face-to-face interview was conducted among 172 postpartum women using a structured
interview schedule and Edinburg Postpartum Depression Scale (EDPS). We applied descriptive statistics
for assessing the demographic, socio-economic and various pregnancy and delivery-related factors of the
postnatal women as number and percentage. We used a chi-square test to find out the association of
depression with demographic, socioeconomic and health service-related factors of postnatal women.
Results: Overall 12% of women were suffered from the depression in the postnatal period using EPDS at
the cutoff value 13. The age of the participants ranged from 17 to 38 years and the median age was 24
years. Nearly two-thirds participants (63.4%) were married at an early age ( included in this study were within seven days of their postpartum period. Amongst various household
wealth indexes, pregnancy-related problems/complications were found to be associated with PPD.
Conclusion: The study revealed that nearly one-fifth of women were suffering from depression in their
postpartum period. For dealing with the problem, there should give importance to women’s education,
empowerment, and family care and support during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Keyword :
Associated factors, Postpartum depression, Prevalence, Women.