Global and relationship-specific perceptions of support and the development of postpartum depressive symptomatology.
BACKGROUND
A lack of social support has consistently been demonstrated to be an important modifiable risk factor for postpartum depression. As such, a greater understanding of specific support variables may assist health professionals in the development of effective preventive interventions. The purpose of this paper was two-fold: (1) to determine if women discriminated between global and relationship-specific perceptions of support, and (2) to examine the influence of global and relationship-specific perceptions of support in the immediate postpartum period on the development of depressive symptomatology at 8 weeks postpartum.


METHODS
As part of a longitudinal study, a diverse sample of 594 mothers completed questionnaires that included the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and global and relationship-specific (e.g., partner, mother, and other women with children) measures of support.


RESULTS
Mothers clearly discriminated between global and relationship-specific perceptions of support and those with depressive symptomatology at 8 weeks had significantly lower perceptions of both global and relationship-specific support at 1-week postpartum. Using discriminant function analysis, four variables, reliable reliance from partner, nurturance from partner, attachment to other women with children, and EPDS score at 1-week postpartum, differentiated between mothers who experienced depressive symptomatology at 8 weeks and those who did not.


CONCLUSIONS
Relationship-specific interventions may be beneficial if they include strategies that target a positive partner relationship through preceptions of reliable alliance and feeling needed and provide opportunites for interaction with other mothers. Maternal mood at 1 week postpartum was the largest predictor of depressive symptomatology at 8 weeks.
Dennis
Cindy-Lee
CL
Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5T 1P8, Canada. cindylee.dennis@utoronto.ca
Letourneau
Nicole
N
D001955:British Columbia; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires