NR452 CAPSTONE COURSE Capstone Evidence-based Paper: Effect of Postpartum Depression in Women

 

Effect of Postpartum Depression in Women Completed Sample

Chamberlain College of Nursing

NR 452: Capstone

March 2019

Introduction

Postpartum depression is a condition that occurs after birth. The birth of a newborn can trigger several emotions such as excitement, joy, fear, and anxiety. These mixed feelings can lead to depression. It is a serious complication in healthcare that goes under diagnose, and it is relevant to know that women may have various changes mentally, which affect the overall health and proper care of the infants and plays a significant risk for new mothers.

Clinical Issue

The purpose of this paper is to identify ways of improving the maternal-infant relationship for women with postpartum depression. Bringing to knowledge the importance of diagnosing postpartum early, educating women on how to identify the symptoms of postpartum and different ways to seek help. One of the four main categories of the NCLEX-RN examination blueprint of 2016 is psychosocial integrity in which the nurse provides nursing care, that helps to promote, support mental, social and emotional stage of the clients. The clinical issues for postpartum depression need to be addressed during pregnancy and post pregnancy to assess the mental health of women.

Importance

The prevalence of postpartum depression is estimated to be between twelve percent and eighteen percent of new mother ( Lindensmith, 2018). The clinical problem will be underdiagnosed of postpartum in healthcare, and it is one of the neglected aspects of women’s healthcare. It is important to know that one out of eight women will experience symptoms of postpartum depression within two weeks after delivery and it can last up to a year. Which means that about four million birth that occurs yearly in the United State of America and this equals six hundred thousand postpartum diagnoses ( Madlala and Kassier, 2017).

The potential negative effect of leaving postpartum depression issue unresolved can lead to a mother and infant relationship to be strained, the woman will be less able to respond to the baby’s needs. Evidence-based research showed that postpartum depression mothers are inadequate caregivers due to the lack of mother and infant interaction ( Madlala and Kassier, 2017). The more advanced the postpartum is left unattended to, can lead to underdevelopment of an infant. It is important for a new mother to have full attention towards the newborn, especially after birth because the first year of life is a critical stage, it is where the infant cognitive is developed. If the mother is not diagnosed in the early stage of postpartum, it can lead to the infant which has limited social, language and behavioral development in the future. Postpartum depression can lead to poor hygiene to both the mother and the infant, breastfeeding issues or early cessation which can lead to poor infant growth.

The fact that postpartum depression as long been known as an illness that affects women after delivery and confirmed by experts that, it is poorly diagnosed by physicians, unfortunately, postpartum depression is undertreated every day in our society today. Lack of treatment of postpartum depression is most likely to cause long-term effects on the infants.

There have been some programs or screening developed for postpartum depression mothers during pregnancy, post-pregnancy and in a neonatal intensive care unit, which involves pharmacological interventions, education, coaching, and family involvement (Angarath et al., 2016).

Patient Population

The difficulties and complications related to underdiagnosed postpartum depression play a huge problem in healthcare. The patient population that is affected the most with postpartum depression are women. The main purpose will be to focus specifically more on women that are of childbearing age.

It is imperative to bring an awareness to the fact that postpartum depression can affect people from all ethnicity, race, cultures, economic or educational background and that postpartum depression is a global problem that needs to be addressed aggressively.

Research has shown that cultural factors play a great huge role in triggering postpartum depression and at the same time can help to alleviate some depression symptoms. The influence the cultural value has played in postpartum depression, to be specific African women and little awareness tha

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