Search

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the employment status of new mothers and their depressive symptoms at 6 months postpartum. In order to have a better understanding of these links, we investigated the role that socio-environmental characteristics of new mothers plays in this relationship. Employment status is conceived to be closely linked to the characteristics of new mothers and their environment that constitute some of the well-known risk factors for postpartum depressive disorders. For that reason, the possibility that these characteristics could intervene in the relationship between employment status and depressive symptoms was considered. Three types of links were explored: independent, interactive or indirect relationships. Analysis was performed on a sample of 447 women in one of the four following situations: working, being on maternity leave, being a homemaker or actively seeking employment. Results appear to indicate the presence of an indirect relationship between employment status and depressive symptoms. Women on maternity leave, and, to a lesser degree, working mothers, present characteristics that are associated with a good mental health. Homemakers and women seeking employment, however, seem to be placed in situations associated with depressive symptoms. These results underscore the possibility that employment status could lead to living conditions that have an impact on a new mother's mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on parents' process of seeking help for their child when a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is made or suspected. The study was conducted with 18 parents of children aged 4-10 years in Quebec (Canada). A trajectory-network approach was applied in order to carry out an in-depth analysis of family help-seeking trajectories based on the relationships mobilised (or neglected) over time and on life course events that may have precipitated (or hindered) help-seeking actions. Semi-directed interviews based on a name generator were conducted. A qualitative analysis of the content of family narratives was done and followed by the production of a schematic representation of each families' help-seeking trajectory. The results identified four constitutive phases during which relationships within the family, within associations, or with health and social services or education professionals helped or hindered the help-seeking process. The results show the relevance of the proposed approach for analysing the help-seeking process and better supporting families of children on the autism spectrum., (© 2020 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.)

The aim of this paper is to explore the stress and the psychological distress faced by parents of children living with different types of disability. Its main focus is on parents of children with autism. The first part describes the stress factors faced by parents of children with disabilities and the second, the particularities of the stress faced by parents of children with autism. The third part explores other types of stress factors, such as financial problems, marital discord or beak-up, single parenthood and lack of social support. In the forth part, we examine weather the services are well suited to provide for the needs of families, and, in the fifth part, we describe the major role played by intervention in the life of families of children with autism.

Context: The perinatal period is one during which health care services are in high demand. Like other health care sub-sectors, perinatal health care delivery has undergone significant changes in recent years, such as the integrative wave that has swept through the health care industry since the early 1990s., Purpose: The present study aims at reviewing scholarly work on integrated perinatal care to provide support for policy decision-making., Results: Researchers interested in integrated perinatal care have, by assessing the effectiveness of individual clinical practices and intervention programs, mainly addressed issues of continuity of care and clinical and professional integration., Conclusions: Improvements in perinatal health care delivery appear related not to structurally integrated health care delivery systems, but to organizing modalities that aim to support woman-centred care and cooperative clinical practice.

Background: Postpartum depression is a common, severe, yet often undetected condition. Between 10 and 15 percent of new mothers suffer from depressive disorders in the first year after childbirth. The objective of this study was to investigate whether asking women questions about their daily life constituted a useful strategy to detect women at risk of developing psychological distress after childbirth., Methods: A prospective study of 330 first- and second-time mothers was conducted. Structured interviews with women were performed at the maternity unit 1 to 2 days after childbirth, and postal questionnaires were sent to participants 5 months later. An interviewer wrote down her perception of the mood of participants, in the form of three short statements, immediately after the interview. This perception was compared with the score of the woman on the General Health Questionnaire scale, which was included in the 5 months' questionnaire., Results: The interviewer's perception of women's mood was significantly associated with the score on the General Health Questionnaire scale 5 months later. Multivariate analysis showed that the interviewer's perception of anxiety was a better predictor of postpartum psychological distress at 5 months than women's answers to questions about their mood before pregnancy and 1 to 2 days after delivery., Conclusions: Asking the new mother questions about her private and occupational life can be considered as one of many possible ways to improve the identification of women at risk of developing postpartum depression.

This paper investigates the construct validity and reliability of a Quebec version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for a population of low-socioeconomic-status mothers. This scale was constructed for the specific purpose of measuring mothers' symptoms of depression during the postnatal period in an effort to alleviate the validity problems that could arise from depression scales intended for the general population. Two hundred and twenty-four mothers participating in a Quebec prevention program, "Naître égaux, grandir en santé" (Martin & Boyer, 1995) filled out the EPDS between the 22nd and the 35th day postpartum. A confirmatory factor analysis, conducted with LISREL, gives a 2-factor structure for the EPDS, the first representing symptoms of depression and the second symptoms of anxiety. This structure differs from the one presented by Cox, Holden, and Sagovsky (1987), authors of the EPDS. It corresponds, however to the results of other authors who looked at the EPDS with confirmatory factor analysis (Pop, Komproe, & van Son, 1992) and indicates a good construct validity. The reliability of the scale also appears satisfactory, with a Cronbach alpha co-efficient of 0.82.