The research has been completed in a total of 41
primary health care centers located in Üsküdar and
Kadıköy districts, in the city center of Istanbul as crosssectionally.
Research universe consists of total 176
personnel (88 nurses, 88 midwives) employed in above
stated 41 primary health care centers. In the research
the aim was planned to contact all participant nurses and
midwives but 136 nurses and midwives (response ratio;
77.2%) could be reached. Research data have been
collected via literature-based questionnaire prepared by
researchers. Personal Information Form contained
questions on some socio-demographic features,
professional features, and trainings and practices on
postpartum depression of nurses and midwives.
Postpartum Depression Knowledge and Opinions
Form: This form, based on literature, has two parts,
including knowledge and opinions3,15,16,18,22,25-28. In the postpartum depression knowledge part, there
are 45 items on PPD. Topic titles and numbers of form
items are as given below:
• Definition, frequency, occurrence time and symptoms
of PPD, 11 items
• Etiology and risk factors of PPD, 9 items
• Early diagnosis and screening programs of PPD, 7
items
• Treatment of PPD, 7 items
• Effect of PPD on mother-baby and family health, 4
items
• Roles of nurses/midwives in preventing and early
diagnosis of PPD, 7 items
Next to each item, options “true”, “false” and “I do not
know” have been placed and participants have been
asked to select one option. Some items in the form have
been true and some have been false statements.
Subsequent to preparing form items, expert views have
been taken for content validity and required alterations
have been made according to expert views. Final form
has been completed with 30 nurses and midwives who
were not participants and it has been verified that no
unclear items were stated in the form. In postpartum
depression knowledge part, for each correct choice
participants were given 1 point and for incorrect options,
or unanswered ones or “I do not know” options they were
given 0 point. Thus total score was obtained from the
knowledge part. The highest score to receive from
knowledge part was designed as 45. Also by totaling sub
topic titles item scores, a score average on sub
dimensions has also been obtained.
The second part has been prepared by researchers
to analyze PPD opinions of nurses and midwives. There
are 4 statements about postpartum depression in the
second part. These statements are related to the
importance of postpartum depression as a postpartum
health issue and roles of nurses and midwives in
preventing, early detection of PPD and home care of
women with PPD. Participants were asked to read each
statement and grade between 1-5 (1= not important at
all, 2= not important, 3= a little important, 4= moderately
important, 5= fairly important). Upon receiving required
permission from Provincial Directorate of Health, data
have been gathered between the dates November 1,
2009 - January 30, 2010. At first the participants were
given information on the objectives of research and the
ones giving verbal approval were distributed the forms.
Forms were individually completed by nurses and
midwives then taken back by researcher.
The data were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0 for
Windows and were presented as frequency distribution
and means. Descriptive statistics were used to describe
sample characteristics In statistical analysis of data, Chisquare
and t–tests have been utilized. Statistical
differences are reported when P<0.05.
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