title: Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in pregnant Australian Indigenous women residing in rural and remote New South Wales: A cross-sectional descriptive study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pregnancy can be a stressful time for many women. There is ample evidence of numerous physical and mental health inequities for Indigenous Australians. For those Indigenous women who are pregnant, it is established that there is a higher incidence of poor physical perinatal outcomes when compared with non-Indigenous Australians. However, little evidence exists that examines stressful events and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in pregnant women who are members of this community.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To quantify the rates of stressful events and PTSD symptoms in pregnant Indigenous women.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty rural and remote Indigenous women were invited to complete a survey during each trimester of their pregnancy. The survey measures were the stressful life events and the Impact of Events Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Extremely high rates of PTSD symptoms were reported by participants. Approximately 40% of this group exhibited PTSD symptoms during their pregnancy with mean score 33.38 (SD = 14.37) significantly higher than a study of European victims of crisis, including terrorism attacks (20.6, SD = 18.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The extreme levels of PTSD symptoms found in the women participating in this study are likely to result in negative implications for both mother and infant. An urgent response must be mounted at government, health, community development and research levels to address these findings. Immediate attention needs to focus on the development of interventions to address the high levels of PTSD symptoms that pregnant Australian Indigenous women experience.
authors.affiliation: HMRI Brain and Mental Health Program, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mah
authors.affiliation: Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Loretta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Weatherall
authors.affiliation: Department of Rural Health, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burrows
authors.affiliation: Hunter Area Pathology Service Immunology, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Caroline C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Blackwell
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gwynn
authors.affiliation: UC Irvine Development, Health and Disease Research Program, School of Medicine University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
authors.forename: Pathik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wadhwa
authors.affiliation: Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|Priority Research Centre Reproduction, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Eugenie R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Lumbers
authors.affiliation: Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|Priority Research Centre Reproduction, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Rural Health, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.|Priority Research Centre Reproduction, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Kym M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rae
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult; D000095283:Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
keywords: Indigenous population; antenatal diagnosis; mental disorder; perinatal care; post-traumatic stress disorder