Andleg líðan kvenna á Akureyri eftir fæðingu: Þunglyndiseinkenni og foreldrastreita við þriggja mánaða aldur barns

Many women experience high emotional pressure when they become mothers and many studies have shown that post partum depression symptoms and parental stress develops as result of this pressure. This study is divided into three parts. In this article the first part will be discussed. Frequency of post-partum depression and parental stress at the service area of the Akureyri Health care service (AHCS) in Iceland was explored. The second part of the study, which is published in other part of this journal, analyses health and psychosocial issues screened during pregnancy and there links to post-partum depression and parental stress. The third part of the study is a qualitative study where women in the post-partum depression group were asked about the lived experience of post-partum depression. This part is still in the working progress. The purpose of the first part was to assess the frequency of post-partum depression, and parents’ stress when the child was 3 months old. The study design was descriptive, were data was collected with questionnaire. The study group was 235 women whom came to the AHCS with their children for 3 months old, scheduled well baby checkup. Return rate was 65%. Data was collected with 1) demographic data, 2) EPDS, and 3) Parents Stress Index 7 Short Form questionnaire (PSI/SF). Results of the EPDS showed that 67% of the women scored < 9, 17% scored 9 -11 and 16% of the women scored > 12 scores. Results from the PSI/SF showed that 17% of the parents scored > 75 which is an indication of severe parental stress. Education was a significant variable (p < 0.05) regarding post-partum depression syndrome but age (p < 0.039) and parity (p=0.013) were significant correlation for stress symptoms. Of the participant whom scored > 12 on the EPDS, 43% got > 75 parental stress scores.