出産に関連する侵入的記憶と心的外傷後ストレス症状との関連に関する混合研究

About 12% of mothers experience childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (CB-PTSS), which include childbirth-related intrusive memories (CB-IM). These memories involve the involuntary re-experiencing of distressing moments of the birth. Although CB-IM are the hallmark of a traumatic childbirth, there is limited knowledge about their content and other characteristics. This study aims to rigorously investigate the characteristics of CB-IM (count, content, and associated nowness, distress, and sensory modalities) and their relationships with CB-PTSS, which may ultimately inform the development of clinical interventions.

Forty-four participants reported the characteristics of the 299 CB-IM they experienced in a 14-day long diary and their CB-PTSS in a questionnaire. A qualitative content analysis was performed on CB-IM content. Linear regressions and Poisson-like regression models tested the associations between different CB-IM characteristics and then with CB-PTSS.

Six CB-IM content categories were identified: Physiological process of birth (11.78% of CB-IM qualitative content), Perceptions of complications (16.67%), Experiences of medical procedures (21.72%), Interpersonal stressors (17.68%), Negative emotions (18.01%), and Physical environment (14.14%). Re-experiencing Negative emotions (IRR = 1.05; p = .028) and Physical environment (IRR = 1.08; p = .010) was associated with more CB-PTSS.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the contents of CB-IM, and the associations of CB-IM characteristics with CB-PTSS, which is valuable knowledge for supporting individually tailored treatments.