Psychological assessment among immigrant and Spanish women during the postpartum period in Spain.

OBJECTIVE

to describe whether there were differences in sociodemographic, obstetric, perinatal and psychological variables between immigrant women and native-born women in Spain during the first 24 h after delivery.

BACKGROUND

The immediate postpartum period is a critical time when physical and psychological disorders are likely to occur. Immigrant women have, in general, poor perinatal and psychological results during this time.

METHODS

One hundred and three women at the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital (Granada, Spain) were divided into two groups: 50 Spanish and 53 immigrants. The instruments used were the Life Orientation Test, the Stress Vulnerability Inventory, the Perceived Stress Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Sociodemographic and obstetric data were obtained from the healthcare providers reports.

RESULTS

During the postpartum period, the immigrant women had higher mean scores on the following subscales: interpersonal sensitivity (F(1,102) = 4.06; p < 0.05); depression (F(1,102) = 7.24; p < 0.01); phobic anxiety (F(1,102) = 4.83; p < 0.05), paranoid ideation (F(1,102) = 7.20; p < 0.01); and psychoticism (F(1,102) = 4.04; p < 0.05). When considering age, education, profession, job situation, immigrant status of the partner and duration of time in Spain as covariates, differences between groups were significant on obsessive-compulsiveness (F(1,102) = 5.37; p < 0.05) and depression (F(1,102) = 6.89; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Immigrant women are in need of more psychological and emotional support from their families, midwives and the rest of healthcare providers than are native Spaniards immediately after delivery.