Prevalence of postpartum depression among women in Bagalkot district of Karnataka

Abstract

The postpartum period, which starts from one hour after delivery and is of duration of 42 days, is critical for thehealth of both mother and child where women experience various physical, mental, and emotional changes. Hence, prevalenceof postpartum depression was studied on a sample of 130 mothers in the age group of 21-40 years, post delivery 10 daysto three months. The sample was drawn from the rural and urban areas of Mudhol and Jamakhandi taluks of Bagalkotdistrict during 2020 – 2021. Mothers were screened using Edinburgh postnatal development scale and SES was measuredby Agarwal SES tool, 2005. The results revealed that the overall prevalence rate of postpartum depression was 12.30 percent, where as urban mothers showed quite high (8.50%) rate of postpartum depression prevalence than rural (3.80%)mothers. Also prevalence of postpartum depression was high among mothers who were home makers (10%) in comparisonwith working mothers (2.30%). Mothers who were living in urban area had higher prevalence rate of depression (8.50%)than mothers living in rural area (3.80%).