Awareness and attitude of the companionsof mothers hospitalized in the post-partum department of Valiasr Hospital(Aj) inQom city towards post-partum depression

Postpartum depression may have irreparable consequences for the mother, child and her family. The awareness and attitude of family members plays a very important role in early diagnosis and treatment of the disease as quickly as possible. Therefore, this research was conducted with the aim of determining the level of awareness and attitude of the companions of mothers hospitalized in the post-partum department of Valiasr(Aj) Hospital, Qom.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 100 companions of mothers hospitalized in the post-partum department of Valiasr Hospital(Aj) Qom, using available sampling method. The data collection tool was a three-part questionnaire including personal information, awareness and attitude measurement. The data were analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential tests by SPSS version 16 software.

The results showed that 70% of the studied people had moderate knowledge about postpartum depression. There is a statistically significant relationship between the level of awareness of postpartum depression with the variables of age, level of education, spouse's education, number of pregnancies, occupation and type of delivery. 85% of people had a negative attitude towards postpartum depression. The relationship between education level, spouse's education, number of pregnancies and occupation, with attitude was statistically significant. But the relationship between attitude with age and type of delivery was not statistically significant.

Considering the importance of family members in supporting and diagnosing postpartum depression as quickly as possible, it is necessary to increase the awareness and attitude of those around pregnant mothers with different educational methods.