title: Functional interpretations of sadness, stress and demoralization among an urban population of low-income mothers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to understand how low-income urban mothers explain feelings of sadness, stress or demoralization in the context of their life experiences.
  
  
  METHODS
  28 in-depth qualitative interviews, constituting part of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project aimed at developing a culturally relevant, community-based intervention for maternal depression. Qualitative data validity was ensured through investigator and expert triangulation, and through member checking.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The following themes emerged: (1) Informants spoke of wanting reprieves from chaos, and discussed this desire relative to wanting to be alone. By contrast, informants expressed loneliness not only in interpersonal terms, but also related to having problems that precluded future relationships, or feeling unique in experiencing an adversity. (2) Informants spoke of demoralization associated with feeling that their problems were externally imposed and therefore beyond their control, but spoke of empowerment associated with owning one's problems. (3) Informants discussed degrees of sadness in relation to their own abilities to adjust or modify their mood, or their ability to contain their feelings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that helping a mother find reprieves from chaos, increasing her perception of her own locus of control around externally imposed adversities, and empowering her to recognize and self-manage her own feelings may constitute important elements of a culturally relevant, community-based intervention for depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Maternity Building, Boston, MA 02118, USA. michael.silverstein@bmc.org
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silverstein
authors.forename: Samere
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: DePeau
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lamberto
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Beardslee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001900:Boston; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult