A Substantive Grounded Theory study to explore the basic social process among women with post partum blues in selected tertiary hospitals at Namakkal- A comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis

Abstract

Context: Grounded theory has been extensively used in research with women, is a means of generating new knowledge that is situated both within the context of the field and existing theory. Methods: The research design used for our study was substantive grounded theory design. The study was conducted in selected tertiary hospitals at Namakkal. The sample size comprises of 5 women with post partum blues. Based on data saturation, the participants were curtailed and extracted with total 5 women with post partum blues. We recruited participants by adopting purposive typical case sampling technique. Typical participants, who were already experiencing and resolving problems related to post partum blues, were enrolled in our study. Demographic variables were collected. The level of post partum blues were measured by Likert Am I blue? Assessment scale. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted. All interviews were recorded and transcribed for the women with post partum blues in order to express core variables (basic social process) related to post partum blues with the help of vignettes. Investigator triangulation strategy was used for collecting the data, coding and making analytic decisions. Results: In our study 3 categories were identified viz biological problems, emotional problems and its ramifications and social network support system. The hypothesis generated from our study is the significant correlation between emotional problems and social support among women with post partum blues.