Mental health status and related influence factors in the spouses of primipara

Abstract

Objective To investigate the mental health status and related influence factors in the spouses of primipara, and to provide theoretical evidence of improving the quality of nursing care. Methods The symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90) was used to investigate the mental health status of primipara spouses (n=200) on the 42nd day after delivery. Results The participants had significantly higher scores of somatization (SOM) , obsessive-compulsive (O-C) , interpersonal sensitivity (I-S) , depression (DEP) , and anxiety (ANX) compared with the norms (t=13.87, 3.34, 8.75, 7.57, 6.49; P<0.01) . Spouses without stable work had significantly higher scores of SOM, O-C, ANX, phobic anxiety (PHOB) and Psychoticism (PSY) compared with those with stable work (t=2.58, 2.85, 1.98, 2.28, 2.02; P<0.05) . Furthermore, the SCL-90 scores were significantly higher in those who had an unplanned pregnancy, an absence of prenatal training, short neonatal sleep time (<10 h) , non-native residence in Beijing, and lived within stem families (P<0.05) . Conclusions The mental health of the primipara spouses can be affected by the pregnancy and delivery, who should be included in the perinatal care program. Key words: Spouses; Primipara; Perinatal period; Mental health