TELEPHONE SUPPORT ON THE POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AFTER NORMAL VAGINAL DELIVERY

The postpartum period is a dangerous potential time for postpartum depression.
Postpartum support is a way to reduce postpartum depression. The purpose of the current study is to
determine the effectiveness of postpartum supports on the postnatal women depression after childbirth.
Materials & Methods: This study, a semi experimental study, was conducted in Marand Hospital.
Two hundred sixty mothers agreed to take part in the study, and they were randomly allocated into two
goups of intervention group (n = 130) or control group (n = 130). The intervention group received
twice telephone counseling for 20- minute at the first week, and from second till 6th weeks, they
received one telephone counseling at week plus routine care. The control group received only the
routine care. Also for evaluation of the mother’s unanticipated needs, a 24-hour telephone access was
provided to the researcher. The main outcome measurement instruments included recording
demographics data sheet, postpartum problem’s checklist, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression
Scale (EPDS) which was administered by a trained interviewer six weeks after delivery. Control group
received general postpartum education. The data were analyzed by Ȥ², Fisher test and T test SPSS
Version 11.5.
Results: At 6 week postpartum, mean of depression in the intervention group was ( 15/80 ± 5/12), and
in the control group, it was (18/43 ± 5/90 ). On the EPDS scale, in the intervention group, there was a
significant decrease comparing to control group ( P < 0.0001) .
Conclusion: The result of this research showed that postpartum support by midwife could decrease
women’s postpartum depression in the pureperium