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Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Scroggins, JK; Reuter-Rice, K; Brandon, D; Yang, Q
Published in: Nursing research
May 2024

Postpartum women experience an array of psychological symptoms that are associated with adverse health behaviors and outcomes including postpartum suicidal ideation and long-term depression. To provide early management of postpartum psychological symptoms, it is important to understand how the symptom experiences change over time.The aim of this study was to examine maternal psychological symptom trajectories over 2, 6, 15, and 24 months postpartum using latent class growth analysis and to examine how each trajectory is associated with maternal depression outcome at 24 months.We used secondary data from the Family Life Project ( N = 1,122) and performed multitrajectory latent class growth analysis based on four observed symptom variables (depression, anxiety, somatization, and hostility). After the final model was identified, bivariate analyses were conducted to examine the association between each trajectory and (a) individual characteristics and (b) outcome (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CES-D]) variables.A four-class model was selected for the final model because it had better fit indices, entropy, and interpretability. The four symptom trajectories were (a) no symptoms over 24 months, (b) low symptoms over 24 months, (c) moderate symptoms increasing over 15 months, and (d) high symptoms increasing over 24 months. More postpartum women with the trajectory of high symptoms increasing over 24 months (Trajectory 4) were in low economic status (92.16%), unemployed (68.63%), or did not complete 4-year college education (98.04%). Most postpartum women (95.56%) in Trajectory 4 also had higher CES-D cutoff scores, indicating a possible clinical depression at 24 months postpartum.Postpartum women who experience increasing symptom trajectories over 15-24 months (Trajectories 3 and 4) could benefit from tailored symptom management interventions provided earlier in the postpartum period to prevent persistent and worsening symptom experiences.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Nursing research

DOI

EISSN

1538-9847

ISSN

0029-6562

Publication Date

May 2024

Volume

73

Issue

3

Start / End Page

178 / 187

Related Subject Headings

  • Time Factors
  • Postpartum Period
  • Nursing
  • Mothers
  • Latent Class Analysis
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Depression, Postpartum
  • Adult
  • 4205 Nursing
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Scroggins, J. K., Reuter-Rice, K., Brandon, D., & Yang, Q. (2024). Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis. Nursing Research, 73(3), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.1097/nnr.0000000000000713
Scroggins, Jihye Kim, Karin Reuter-Rice, Debra Brandon, and Qing Yang. “Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis.Nursing Research 73, no. 3 (May 2024): 178–87. https://doi.org/10.1097/nnr.0000000000000713.
Scroggins JK, Reuter-Rice K, Brandon D, Yang Q. Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis. Nursing research. 2024 May;73(3):178–87.
Scroggins, Jihye Kim, et al. “Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis.Nursing Research, vol. 73, no. 3, May 2024, pp. 178–87. Epmc, doi:10.1097/nnr.0000000000000713.
Scroggins JK, Reuter-Rice K, Brandon D, Yang Q. Maternal Psychological Symptom Trajectories From 2 to 24 Months Postpartum: A Latent Class Growth Analysis. Nursing research. 2024 May;73(3):178–187.

Published In

Nursing research

DOI

EISSN

1538-9847

ISSN

0029-6562

Publication Date

May 2024

Volume

73

Issue

3

Start / End Page

178 / 187

Related Subject Headings

  • Time Factors
  • Postpartum Period
  • Nursing
  • Mothers
  • Latent Class Analysis
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Depression, Postpartum
  • Adult
  • 4205 Nursing