Parental role alteration strongly influences depressive symptoms in mothers of preoperative infants with congenital heart disease.
Amy J Lisanti, Abigail C Demianczyk, Kayla Vaughan and 5 others
PMID 33340826WHAT IT FOUND
In 30 mothers, 47% reported symptoms at the cut-off for likely clinical depression.
Stress from not being able to care for or hold their baby was linked to higher depressive scores.
Key findings
0147% of mothers reported symptoms at or above the cut-off for likely clinical depression.
02Parental role alteration was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, and hospital stress subscales explained 62% of the variance.
03State anxiety was associated with depressive symptoms, while trait anxiety and maternal attachment were not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only 30 mothers and was a secondary analysis of a pilot study, so it had limited power to detect associations. There was no comparison group, so the findings cannot show how these mothers differed from other mothers. It was done at one children's hospital, and the sample was mostly White and non-Hispanic, so results may not apply broadly. Analyses were adjusted only separately for race, ethnicity, and diagnosis timing, not all at once. The study looked only at mothers, not fathers or other caregivers, and only before surgery. Depressive symptoms were measured by self-report cut-off, not a formal clinical depression diagnosis. The original pilot tested skin-to-skin care, but these were baseline data before any intervention, so no treatment effect was examined.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The supplied text does not state who funded the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse-led holding, feeding, or skin-to-skin care will reduce maternal depression. This paper analyzed baseline questionnaires from 30 mothers before any intervention and only shows associations between stress and depressive symptoms.