Association of Post-Traumatic Stress and Post Depressive Symptoms on Childbirth Experience in Women during Cesarean Section
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20929006Keywords:
Post-traumatic Stress , Post-partum Depression, Childbirth Experiences, Cesarean SectionAbstract
Purpose: The present study aims to examine how post-traumatic stress and postpartum depression relate to one another in women who gave birth by cesarean section, and how these two types of distress affect the way women experience childbirth.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Data were collected from women who had undergone cesarean delivery in Rahimyar Khan, Pakistan, recruited through purposive sampling. Post-traumatic stress was measured with the PCL-5, depressive symptoms with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and childbirth experience with the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire.
Findings: Post-traumatic stress and depression were strongly correlated, and both were linked to a less positive childbirth experience. Women carrying more psychological distress generally rated their birth experience lower. Symptom levels were also higher, and childbirth experience less favorable, among women who had unplanned cesareans compared to planned ones, and among women from urban areas compared to rural ones.
Implications/Originality/Value: The overlap between trauma symptoms and depression after cesarean birth was substantial enough to make a reasonable case for building routine psychological screening, using tools like the EPDS, into standard obstetric care in Pakistan.
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