The maternity blues and Hong Kong Chinese women: an exploratory study

The maternity blues have been studied world-wide and are generally regarded as a cross-cultural phenomenon. However, low prevalence rates of the blues have been reported recently in studies of Japanese women. The purposes of this study are, firstly, to establish whether the low prevalence noted in Japanese women is also found in another group of Asian women, that is, Hong Kong Chinese women, and secondly, to describe the manifestations of the blues in this group of women.

A prospective survey involving a convenience sample of 88 women, recruited on the first day after normal or operative vaginal delivery. Participants completed a blues self-rating scale (Stein's Daily Scoring System) every day for the first 7 days after delivery. Data were analysed mainly in terms of descriptive statistics.

39 (44.3%) women experienced an episode of the blues during the first week after delivery. The manifestations of the blues showed a typical peaking on the 5th postnatal day.

This is a short-term exploratory study. Further investigation is required into the factors influencing or precipitating the blues, particularly from the cultural perspectives of childbearing Hong Kong Chinese women.

Hong Kong Chinese women experience the maternity blues in similar ways to those reported by studies of women in other countries and cultures, with the exception of those describing the blues in Japanese women.