Læknablaðið - 15.11.1998, Page 20

838
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1998; 84
Þunglyndiseinkenni og foreldrastreita
hjá íslenskum mæörum
með óvær ungbörn
Marga Thome
Thome IVI
Depressive symptoms and parental stress in Ice-
landic mothers with difficult infants: a national
survey
Læknablaðið 1998; 84: 838-45
Objective: Postnalal depressive symptoms can lead
to considerable problems for women and their fami-
lies. To estimate their prevalence and relation of such
symptoms to parental stress, infant difficulty and
demographic characteristics a cross-sectional natio-
nal survey was conducted at two to three months
postpartum. Internal consistency of the Icelandic
versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression
Scale and the Parent Stress Index / Short Form and
their concurrent validity was also tested.
Material and methods: A sample of all Icelandic
women who gave birth during a quarter of the year
1992 and had a live baby two months later was
selected from National Register (N=1054). The fol-
lowing questionnaires were mailed two months post-
partum: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Pa-
rent Stress Index/ Short Form, Infant Difficulty In-
dex and a list of questions on demographic characte-
ristics.
Results: Internal consistency and concurrent validity
of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the
Parent Stress Index were confirmed. The mean for
depressive symptoms as assessed by the Edinburgh
Postnatal Depression Scale was 6.5. Of the women
Fyrirspurnir, bréfaskipti: MargaThome hjúkrunarfræöingur
og Ijósmóðir, Námsbraut í hjúkrunarfræöi Háskóla íslands,
Eirbergi, Eiríksgötu 34, 101 Reykjavík. Sfmi: 525 4970.
Bréfsími: 525 4963. Netfang: marga@rhi.hi.is
Lykilorö: kembing, þunglyndiseinkenni eftir fæöingu,
Edinborgar þunglyndiskvarði, foreldrastreitukvarði, áværð
ungbarna.
14% experienced frequent and severe symptoms
(score >12). Depressive symptoms correlated with
maternal role distress (p<0.01). Significant differen-
ces in frequency of depressive symptoms were noted
between women in relation to infant difficulty
(p<0.0001), maternal worries about health of the
baby (p<0.0001), poor maternal education (p<0.005)
and single parenthood (p<0.002).
Conclusions: The prevalence of depressive symp-
toms in Icelandic women postpartum is comparable
to rates found in other Western countries and appears
to be related to parental stress, infant difficulties and
maternal social status.
Key words: screening, depressive symptoms postpartum,
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Parent Stress
Index, infant difficulty.
Ágrip
Inngangur: Þunglyndi eftir fæðingu getur
leitt til verulegra vandkvæða fyrir konur og
fjölskyldur þeirra. Til að afla faraldsfræðilegra
upplýsinga um tíðni þunglyndiseinkenna hjá
íslenskum konum tveimur til þremur mánuðum
eftir fæðingu, var gerð könnun í úrtaki frá öllu
landinu. Jafnframt var athugað samband ein-
kennanna við foreldrastreitu og óværð ung-
barna og var prófaður áreiðanleiki og réttmæti
íslenskrar útgáfu Edinborgar þunglyndiskvarð-
ans (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,
EPDS) og styttrar útgáfu foreldrastreitukvarð-
ans (Parent Stress Index - Short Form, PSI/SF).
Efniviður og aðferðir: I úrtak völdust allar
íslenskar konur sem höfðu alið bam á einum
ársfjórðungi 1992 og barnið var lifandi tveimur
mánuðum síðar (N=1058). Edinborgar þung-
lyndiskvarðinn og foreldrastreitukvarðinn
ásamt óværðarkvarða (Infant Difficulty Index)
og lýðbreytulista voru sendir þeim tveimur
mánuðum eftir fæðingu.