Assessing Knowledge on Post-Partum Depression Among Mothers at the Tamale Teaching Hospital

Postpartum depression, also referred to as postnatal depression, is a non-psychotic depressive disorder of variable severity and it can initiate as early as two weeks after delivery and can persist indefinitely if untreated and has been found to cause distress and impairs a mother’s ability to carry out her normal duties, care for herself and care for her baby. The study sought to assess the knowledge of postpartum depression among pregnant women at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional study design. The study population included mothers who were attending postnatal care at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. 132 participants were consecutively sampled for the study. Completed questionnaire was entered into Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS version 22.00). Descriptive statistics including mean, percentages, and frequencies were calculated and presented in graphs and tables for quantitative variables. Cross tabulation using chi square was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. The mean age of respondents was 22 years. Majority of the respondents (95.3%) were between the ages of 25-34 years. Majority of respondents have ever heard of postpartum depression (63.6%) with health facility being the most cited source of information. The preferred sex of baby mothers wanted to have during and after pregnancy was significantly associated with postpartum depression with p values =