The Impact of First-Time Pregnancy on Maternal Mental Health: Risk Factors and Coping Strategies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62497/irjgp.122Keywords:
First-time pregnancy, maternal mental health, postpartum depression, anxiety, psychological stress, coping strategies, social support, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, EPDS, pregnancyAbstract
Introduction: The mental health of new mothers faces major changes during their first pregnancy because depression and anxiety become frequent issues. The research evaluated depression and anxiety prevalence rates together with risk factors and coping strategy effects in first-time pregnant women.
Materials and Methods: The study recruited 210 primary mothers who participated in cross-sectional research at Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, from March 2023 to August 2023. Participants used questionnaires to respond to assessments about their sociodemographic details, pregnancy backgrounds, and coping approaches in addition to depression assessments based on Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale results and anxiety assessments through Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale tests. Researchers conducted statistical tests with chi-square methods alongside logistic regression to understand connections between risk elements and coping patterns with mental health results.
Results: The research data showed depression affected 28.6% of participants and anxiety affected 21.9% among the study group. The participants who showed depression symptoms exhibited a significant relationship with maladaptive coping approaches (p=0.013 and these strategies were used by 70% of people who experienced depression symptoms. The research revealed no meaningful connections between depression and variables which included educational background, occupational stability and delivery complications. The use of maladaptive coping strategies by women put them at 2.7 times greater risk of developing depression (OR=2.71, p=0.007).
Conclusion: The research demonstrates that first-time pregnant individuals face elevated depression and anxiety levels because maladaptive coping methods act as significant depression risk factors. The identification of mental health issues at early stages along with behavior-driven intervention strategies would help improve maternal mental health results. Future investigations need to implement multi-century data collection from multiple centers to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that protect mental health during pregnancy.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Usman Khan, Palwasha Khan, Muhammad Wassaf Ul Haq, Romessa Kiyani, Laiba Bakhtiar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
