Psicologia em Pesquisa
On-line version ISSN 1982-1247
Abstract
RAMOS, Sofia Helena Amarante da Silva and FURTADO, Erikson Felipe. Puerperal depression and mother-infant interactions: a pilot study. Psicol. pesq. [online]. 2007, vol.1, n.1, pp.20-28. ISSN 1982-1247.
With the objective of comparing mother-baby interaction profiles among depressed and non-depressed mothers three months after birth. Twenty-two mothers that attended a clinic were submitted to an interview that evaluate socio-demographic variables and answered the Edinburgh Scale for the detection of pos-natal depression and the Evaluation of Mother-baby Interaction Scale (interview and observation mix technique). It was observed that mothers with pos-natal depression have significantly lower scores on the Evaluation of Mother-baby Interaction Scale when compared to non-depressed mothers. Significant differences between groups were found related to pos-natal communication, type of interaction and emotional attachment to the baby. There were no significant differences in pre-natal communication and expectations about the baby, which suggests that pos-natal depression concentrates its prejudicial effects on mother-baby interaction in the pos-natal period.
Keywords : Pos-natal depression; Mother-baby interaction.