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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Perinatal Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1466074
This article is part of the Research Topic Perinatal mental health: Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Fear View all articles

Prevalence and Determinants of Antenatal Depression and Its Association with Intimate Partner Violence: A Cross-Sectional Study at Hospital Melaka, Malaysia

Provisionally accepted
Sethuckarasi Narayanan Sethuckarasi Narayanan 1Fairuz Nazri Abd Rahman Fairuz Nazri Abd Rahman 1,2*Rosnah Sutan Rosnah Sutan 3Gayathri KKumarasuriar Gayathri KKumarasuriar 4Leong K. Seong Leong K. Seong 5
  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Cheras, Malaysia
  • 2 Hospital Pakar Kanak-kanak Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, Cheras, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Cheras, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aimed to assess the determinants of antenatal depression and its relation to intimate partner violence (IPV) among pregnant women at Hospital Melaka, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between February 1 and March 31, 2024, with 370 pregnant women recruited through convenience sampling. Inclusion criteria were Malaysian citizenship, age above 18 years, and ability to read and comprehend Malay. Data collection involved self-reported sociodemographic questionnaires, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the WHO Multicountry Study on Women's Health and Life Events Questionnaire.Results: The prevalence of antenatal depression was 8.4%. IPV was reported by 64.1% of participants, with 54.6% experiencing controlling behavior, 30.0% emotional violence, 2.4% physical violence, and 3.5% sexual violence. Bivariate analysis showed that emotional violence (p < 0.001), physical violence (p < 0.001), sexual violence (p < 0.001), and hospitalization (p = 0.006) were significantly associated with an increased risk of antenatal depression. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that women receiving outpatient care had significantly lower odds of developing antenatal depression compared to hospitalized women (adjusted OR 0.262, 95% CI 0.100-0.683; p = 0.006). Women who experienced sexual violence were 18 times more likely to develop antenatal depression (adjusted OR 18.761, 95% CI 3.603-97.684; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The study highlights the need for healthcare workers to recognize risk factors for antenatal depression, particularly IPV.

    Keywords: Depression, Postpartum, Domestic Violence, emotional abuse, Pregnancy

    Received: 17 Jul 2024; Accepted: 21 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Narayanan, Abd Rahman, Sutan, KKumarasuriar and Seong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fairuz Nazri Abd Rahman, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Cheras, Malaysia

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