An assessment of maternal quality of life in the postpartum period in southern Brazil: a comparison of two questionnaires.
OBJECTIVE
To assess maternal quality of life (QoL) during the postpartum period and to compare the performance of two QoL questionnaires across a sample of 101 women in southern Brazil. To our knowledge, this is the first study that measures maternal quality of life during the postpartum period in Brazil.


BACKGROUND
There is limited information about postpartum maternal quality of life in Brazil. The are no Portuguese versions of instruments specifically designed to measure quality of life during the postpartum period.


METHODS
Research participants completed the Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-Bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI) questionnaires. The correlations between the MQLI and the discrete areas of WHOQOL-BREF were examined using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients.


RESULTS
We report a significant correlation between the global MQLI and the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF scores (p < 0.01). An analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in mean scores in the Psychological and Environment domains according to different socio-economic strata: F (3, 97) = 3.81, p = 0.012 and F (3, 97) = 4.03, p = 0.01, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire may be more sensitive than the MQLI in detecting the impact of socioeconomic status on the QoL of postpartum women.


CONCLUSIONS
The sample of postpartum women evaluated in this study presented favorable QoL scores according to both the MQLI and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. Our results also indicate that the WHOQOL-BREF and the MQLI questionnaires have a significant correlation in terms of their assessments of postpartum mothers.
Zubaran
Carlos
C
Western Sydney Area Health Service, Department of Psychiatry, Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. zubaran_jr@yahoo.com
Foresti
Katia
K
Schumacher
Marina Verdi
MV
Muller
Lucia Cristina
LC
Amoretti
Aline Luz
AL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
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