Introduction: For most people, a birth of a child is a positive experience accompanied by joy, happiness and love, but soon afterwards demanding and challenging days follow. Although emotional instability in this period is very common, the presence of intense symptoms, such as excessive crying, extreme sadness, guilt, anger, and other negative feelings, suggests a postpartum depression. Peripartum depression is a big public health issue, which on average affects one in six women during pregnancy and after giving birth. Suicide as a consequence of a peripartum depression is one of the leading causes of maternal deaths. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to review the strategies used in Slovenia, aiming diagnosis of peripartum depression and prevention of its negative consequences, including suicide. Methods: In this thesis, we used a descriptive method of literature review. Protective and risk factors were presented, based on a systematic overview of scientific literature. Publicly available databases,such as PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were used. The strategies of diagnosing and preventing peripartum depression in Slovenia are presented, based on the overview of websites, publications and documents related to women’s health during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. Results: Family and personal history of depression, as well as previous experience of peripartum depression have been proven to be the most important risk factors for peripartum depression, while depression during pregnancy is an additional risk factor for postpartum depression. On the other hand, the key protective factor against peripartum depression, is social support, especially from a partner. In addition to considering all the preventive and risk factors, early discovery and early treatment are crucial strategies for the prevention of peripartum depression. Mental-health promotion, consistent use of screening questionnaires in the process of peripartum-depression prevention, and an accessible combination of help services for coping with peripartum depression, are some of the most common and most efficient strategies used to prevent peripartum depressions and suicides in Slovenia. Discussion and conclusions: Good mental health of a pregnant woman or a neonatal mother has a significant effect on the woman herself, her child and her interpersonal relationships with others, therefore it is crucial to diagnose the presence of peripartum depression in time and to start treatment as soon as possible. In Slovenia, there is still not enough attention directed to the mental health of pregnant and neonatal women. Therefore, it is of extreme importance to use and further develop the strategies for peripartum-depression prevention and to abide by and consistently use the directions from the PODN project, recommending that midwives and gynaecologists perform screening tests with their patients, since this is the only way we can contribute to early detection and prevention of peripartum depression.
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