Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Pregnant Woman with Prior Perinatal Complications: A Cross-Sectional Facility-Based Study
| dc.contributor.advisor | Hanlon Charlotte | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Girma Fikert | |
| dc.contributor.author | Melaku Lelina | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-07-08T07:39:49Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-08T14:43:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-07-08T07:39:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-08T14:43:13Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019-11 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: Studies from high-income countries have shown that complications in a previouspregnancy or at childbirth are associated with common mental disorders (CMD) and post-traumatic stressdisorder (PTSD) in the subsequent pregnancy. Even though pregnancyandobstetric complications aremore common in low- and middle-income countries, only a small number of studies have assessed PTSDsymptoms following childbirth in Africa and none have examined symptoms in the subsequent pregnancy. Objective: to test the hypothesis that previous perinatal complications are a risk factor for PTSD in the subsequent pregnancy Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using a dataset that isbeing collected as part of theASSET (Health System Strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa) study. As part of ASSET, a cross-sectionalfacility-based study is being conducted among a sample of 2071 pregnant women as they present for antenatal care at eight selected health centers in Meskan and Sodo districts, Gurage Zone, SouthernNations, Nationalities and Peoples’ region. Data on socio-demographic background, depressivesymptoms, anxiety symptoms, substance use and intimate partner violence was collected in a directinterview using structured and standardized questionnaires. Trauma symptoms were assessed using theLife-Event Checklist (LEC) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder checklist for DSM-V (PCL-5), whichhave been adapted for the Ethiopian setting. Data on clinical characteristics and complications of currentand past pregnancies was gathered from the clinical record using a structured form. For the analysis, theprimary exposure was considered previous experience of perinatal complications and the primaryoutcome provisional diagnosis of PTSD using DSM-5 from PCL-5 (dependent variable). Result: There were 844 participants in the study and around half of the women (50.6%; n=421) were inthe third trimester of pregnancy. The mean age was 25.7 years (SD= 4.7) with minimum age atpresentation 16 years and maximum 43 years. Nearly one-third of women (31%; n=258) were pregnantfor the first time; the mean parity was 1.76 (SD= 1.7) with a range of 0 to 8. Slightly more than half of theparticipant (51%) had experienced one or more potentially traumatic events. From these 47.7% of womenreported to have directly experienced physical assault. Women endorsed having negative feelings (such asfear, horror, anger, guilt or shame) more frequently than other PTSD symptoms on the PCL-5.The prevalence of PTSD using different criteria including the DSM-5 criteria vary between 2.9%-4.4% in thisstudy. There was significant association between experienced number of potentially traumatic events andprovisional diagnosis of PTSD using the DSM-5.Limitation: Multivariable analysis of the association between previous obstetric complications and PTSDsymptoms was not done because of the small proportion of obstetric complication. Data on othersymptoms of mental health conditions including depression symptoms and care, anxiety symptoms andsubstance use were not included in the analysis and hence this factors was not controlled for. Recommendation: Slightly over half of participant women reported having been exposed to one or more traumatic event. Further research is needed to explore the effect of these possibly traumatic experience onpregnancy and outcome Symptoms like having negative feeling, irritable behavior and sleep difficultieswere relatively frequent. Integrating mental health screening with ANC follow up may help improve andthe detection rate and care of mental health problems in pregnant women. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/21897 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Abeba University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Posttraumatic stress symptoms , pregnant woman, perinatal complications | en_US |
| dc.title | Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Pregnant Woman with Prior Perinatal Complications: A Cross-Sectional Facility-Based Study | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |