Qualitative Exploration of Postpartum Depression Among Mothers Attending St. Joseph Hospital, Koforidua
ABSTRACT
After childbirth, a mother can experience varied emotions ranging from joy and pleasure to sadness and crying bouts. These feelings of sadness and tearfulness are called "baby blues," and they tend to decrease over the first 2 weeks after delivery. While women experiencing baby blues tend to recover quickly, post-partum depression (PPD) tends to be longer and severely affects women's ability to return to normal function. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore postpartum depression among mothers attending St. Joseph Hospital, Koforidua.
Eleven mothers attending postnatal clinic were recruited from the St. Joseph Hospital, Koforidua to participate in the study. A structured interview guide was used as the data collection tool. The three main themes which emerged after content analysis of the transcribed data were;...