Severe fatigue and depressive symptoms in lower-income urban postpartum women. West J Nurs Res 2009 Aug;31(5):599-612
Date
07/31/2009Pubmed ID
19641094DOI
10.1177/0193945909333890Scopus ID
2-s2.0-69649107172 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 26 CitationsAbstract
The purpose of this study was to identify whether severe postpartum fatigue at 1 and 3 months postpartum was associated with depressive symptomatology at 6 months in lower-income urban women. A convenience sample of 43 lower-income postpartum women completed the Modified Fatigue Symptoms Checklist and Edinburgh Postpartum Depression scale at 1, 3, and 6 months postpartum. Participants who were severely fatigued at both 1 and 3 months postpartum were significantly more likely to exhibit depressive symptomatology at 6 months. Fatigue and depressive symptoms were moderately to strongly correlated at 1 (r = .68), 3 (r = .74), and 6 (r = .70) months postpartum (p = .001). Severe fatigue and depressive symptomatology often co-exist for months after childbirth. Future research should examine whether interventions to targeting severe postpartum fatigue in lower-income urban women may also effectively reduce depressive symptoms.
Author List
Doering Runquist JJ, Morin K, Stetzer FCAuthor
Jennifer Doering PhD Associate Professor in the Nursing department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Depression, PostpartumFatigue
Female
Humans
Postpartum Period
Poverty
Urban Population
