DEPRESSION AND RELIGIOSITY: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY AMONG WOMEN FROM PREGNANCY TO THE POSTPARTUM PERIOD

Abstract

This longitudinal study carried out in the city of Piracicaba-SP with 174 pregnant and postpartum women aimed to investigate the incidence of depressive symptoms among pregnant and postpartum women participating in two stages of the Early Health Care Program offered by Cepae-FOP-Unicamp, verifying the association with the level of religiosity and the level of depression during pregnancy and postpartum. An online questionnaire containing questions about sociodemographic data and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) and Duke Religiosity Index (DUREL) instruments were used. It was observed that 25.3% of the pregnant women reported depression and 31.1% often or sometimes cried for no reason. There was a direct significant relationship between the scores of symptoms of postpartum depression and the scores of symptoms of depression during pregnancy (Rate ratios=1.03; 95%CI: 1.02-1.05), p<0.05. A significant association was found between the degree of depression during pregnancy and postpartum (p<0.05) and a significant inverse relationship between the scores of symptoms of postpartum depression and the scores of organizational religiosity (Rate ratio=0, 93; 95%CI:0.87-0.99) and intrinsic religiosity (Rate ratio=0.94; 95%CI:0.91-0.98), p<0.05. It is concluded that the level of postpartum depression (PPD) was associated with depression during pregnancy and that organizational and intrinsic religiosity are protective factors for PPD.