Abstract:
Introduction: Postpartum psychiatric illnesses affect the well-being of both the mother and the
infant. Knowledge about those diseases is the key to improve maternal and infant health during
postpartum period. Therefore, it is necessary to have some knowledge about postpartum
psychiatric illnesses for a better outcome and reduce complications to the child.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge about postpartum psychiatric illnesses among antenatal
mothers in Teaching Hospital Mahamodara.
Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among antenatal mothers who
attended the antenatal clinics and antenatal wards in Teaching Hospital, Mahamodara. A
self-developed, pre-tested and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The
convenience sampling method was used to select the sample. Independent sample t-test, one
way ANOVA and correlation coefficient were used for data analysis.
Results: Majority of participants (167, 55.5%) represented the <21 years age group. With
regard to the occupation, 194 (64.5%) were unemployed and 106 (35.2%) were employed.
Almost all the participants were Sinhala Buddhists. From the sample, 155 (51.5%) have
educated up to A/L and 145 (48.2%) have educated up to O/L. From the sample, 162 (53.8%),
123 (40.9%) and 14 (4.7%) has 0-25, 26-50 and 51-75 knowledge score category, respectively.
One hundred and eighteen (38%) participants have got information about postpartum
psychiatric illnesses from midwives. There was a significant association of mothers’ knowledge
with occupation and educational level (p<0.05). The knowledge about available resources for
prevention and treatments were low.
Conclusions: The awareness regarding psychiatric illnesses among antenatal mothers was
considerably low. This may probably the reason for high prevalence of postpartum psychiatric
illnesses among Sri Lankan antenatal mothers. The most common reasons for that are low level
of education and occupation according to this study.
