Identification of depressive symptoms during postpartum in adolescent mothers

Abstract

The study objectives were to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in adolescent mothers and to characterize them regarding sociodemographic, behavioral and mental health aspects. An observational study, descriptive and cross-sectional, developed in health units with 72 adolescent mothers through the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Within the participants, 20.8% presented depressive symptoms by the EPDS. The most frequent questions referred to the feelings of guilt, anxiety, and ideas to self-harm. We highlighted the feelings of guilt (60%) and feelings of not being worth living (40%). Most participants (73.3%) did not recognize to be depressed. The results show the importance to have an individualized prenatal, when is possible to know vulnerabilities, psychosocial and family aspects, to include tracking of depressive symptoms in the anamnesis and, to use it the attention network, the reference and the counter-reference.