Comparison of postpartum fear of childbirth, symptoms of postpartum PTSD in women with miscarriage, vaginal delivery and cesarean section

Considering that fertility has a high value in most cultures, if attempt to get pregnant fails, it may lead to the mental health dysfunction of the person. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim to compare the postpartum fear of childbirth, postpartum symptoms of depression and postpartum PTSD in women with miscarriage, vaginal delivery and cesarean section.

The present study was a causal-comparative description research which was conducted from February 2021 to June 2021 on 300 women who had just given birth and referred to health centers in Mashhad. The tools used in this study were Wijma Delivery Experience Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory and Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire. Fear of childbirth, depression symptoms and postpartum PTSD were measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS (version 22.0) and multivariate analysis of variance test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Postpartum fear of childbirth, symptoms of depression and PTSD in women with miscarriage was significantly higher than women with vaginal delivery and cesarean section (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between the vaginal delivery and cesarean delivery groups in terms of postpartum fear of childbirth and postpartum depression (p>0.05). Symptoms of postpartum PTSD was significantly higher in the vaginal delivery group than cesarean group (p<0.05).

Postpartum fear of childbirth, depression and PTSD was higher in women with miscarriage than women with delivery.