Comparative of maternal-neonate abdominal contact and kangaroo Short-term skin contact on maternal depression

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal-neonate abdominal and kangaroo short-term skin contact on maternal depression in mothers hospitalized in Torbat Heydariyeh hospitals.

This single-blind randomized clinical trial was performed on 68 eligible pregnant women in Torbat-e-Heydariyeh in 2018. The subjects were randomly divided into two intervention groups (kangaroo skin contact) and control group (abdominal skin contact). Demographics, fertility, and medical information, information about the first, second and third stages of labor and Zong depression questionnaire were completed for both groups immediately and two months after delivery. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 13 by chi-square, independent t-test and Mann-Whitney tests. P- value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

At birth, there was no significant difference in mean of depression scores between the two groups in short-term skin contact (kangaroo) and short-term abdominal skin contact (p= 0.7). Also, 2 months after birth, the mean depression score was not different between the two groups (P= 0.1). There was no significant difference in the severity of depression at birth (P= 0.7) and 2 months after birth (P= 0.4).

Kangaroo short-term skin contact does not affect maternal depression, so its time should be increased for better conclusions.