Level of stress among postnatal mothers at a selected primary health centre

Postpartum is the period following childbirth and lasts for approximately 6 weeks during which the body changes into the pre pregnant state.

To assess the level of postnatal stress among postnatal mothers and to associate the level of stress among postnatal mothers with the selected demographic and obstetrical variables.

A quantitative approach and descriptive design was conducted with N=50 samples. To assess the level of stress among postnatal mothers at PHC. The population consisted of postnatal mothers who have delivered both by vaginal and caesarean section within 6 weeks of postnatal period. The samples were selected by non-probability convenient sampling technique. Data was collected after obtaining the consent from the postnatal mothers. Self-Structured questionnaire method was used to collect the demographical, obstetrical variables and level of stress was assessed by Modified Zung three-point rating scale. The data was analysed by descriptive statistics.

The study findings that 29(50%) of mothers had mild stress,18(36%) mothers had moderate stress and 3(6%) had severe stress. There was a no association between the demographic and obstetrical variables with postpartum stress at 5% level of significance (p≤ 0.05).

The study findings show that there is no association between the demographic and obstetrical variables with postpartum stress at 5% level of significance (p≤0.05). Hence the postpartum stress is commonly found in postnatal mothers.