Association between psychosocial factors and postpartum depression in South Jakarta, Indonesia

To investigate the association between psychosocial factors and postpartum depression.

A cross-sectional design was used. The sample consisted of 166 postpartum mothers recruited by cluster sampling from two public health centers in South Jakarta, Jakarta Province, Indonesia, during February to April 2016. Data collection was through home visits. Instruments employed were: the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); the Childcare Stress Inventory; the Postpartum Support Questionnaire to measure social support; the Dyad Adjustment Scale to measure marital satisfaction; the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale; and the modified Life Events Questionnaire to measure stressful life events. Data analysis consisted of linear regression.

The prevalence of postpartum depression was 19.88%. Childcare stress, marital satisfaction and stressful life events were associated with postpartum depression (R² = 0.298, F = 16.794, p-value < 0.001). Stressful life events explained the most variance in EPDS scores (ß = 0.220, P-value < 0.001), followed by marital satisfaction (ß = -0.321, P-value < 0.01) and childcare stress (ß = 0.008, P-value < 0.01).

The results of this study can be used to inform the screening of vulnerable sub-groups for postpartum depression and to develop nursing interventions that might alleviate postpartum depression.