Postpartum depression in puerperas held at the Lucrécia Paim Maternity in Luanda: an understanding about psychosocial factors

Abstract

The present work aims to understand the psychosocial factors that underlie postpartum depression in postpartum women assisted at the Lucrécia Paim maternity hospital in Luanda and the problem: What are the psychosocial factors that underlie postpartum depression in postpartum women assisted at the Lucrécia Paim maternity hospital in Luanda? The historical antecedents of postpartum depression, grief, melancholy, self-esteem, psychosocial factors, major depressive disorder and postpartum women were considered theoretical aspects. A mixed study of a quantitative-qualitative nature was carried out, which allowed the understanding of this problem, the data collection methods were: structured interviews, questionnaire survey and the Beck inventory. As a result, there was a greater predominance in the ages of 15 to 20 years; as for the level of education, the women studied have only the first cycle and others are illiterate, as for marital status, most of them are single, these women do not work and others have domestic activity as an occupation; they claim that psychological monitoring is important in order to minimize postpartum depression, most of them have not received support from their husbands and they have shown a terrible attitude towards them, regarding the current state of pressure, in them the minimum prevails and the moderate. Inability to care for the baby; different idealizations of reality about the baby's characteristics; prolonged sadness, lack of motivation and obsessive ideas, affectation of pregnancy in professional life, abandonment of work, lack of family support, escape from parenthood, extreme poverty, vulnerable and dysfunctional families were the psychosocial factors of postpartum depression in the sample studied.