Antepartum Depression and Intimate Partner Violence Experience Among Women in a Low-income Urban Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Introduction: Depression during pregnancy is a ‘silent’ danger found to result in negative outcomes. Globally, antepartum depression associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) in low-income urban settlements has become a subject of interest in research. In Kenya, very little, if any, in terms of research has exploited this area. This study sought to find the association between IPV and depression among the antepartum women from low-income urban settlements. Broad objective: To establish the prevalence of depression and IPV experience among antepartum women at the Lang’ata Health Centre and Maternity Services (LHCMS), Nairobi County . Specific objectives: i).To determine the prevalence of depression among the partcipants. ii). To determine the prevalence of IPV among the participants. iii).To determine sociodemographic factors and pregnancy factors associated with depression and with IPV. iv). To determine the association between depression and IPV Methodology: Using a systematic random sampling technique, the researcher recruited a sample of 331 participants at the LHCMS’ ANC clinic in this cross-sectional analytical study. Structured socio-demographic questionnaire, EPDS, and PCSF-IPV were used to obtain sociodemographic, depressive, and IPV data respectively. Data was cleaned and analysed by SPSS version 20 and reporting done in terms of charts, tables, bar graphs, and narratives. Study results: The prevalence of antepartum depression was 46.5% at 13 EPDS cut off while the prevalence of IPV was 54.4%. Chi-square tests of associations were mainly conducted to analyse for various associations between the variables. There were significant association between antepartum depression and the following: age (p=0.014); marital status (p=0.003); pregnancy-planned or not (p=0.002); number of children alive (p=0.045); education level (p=0.008); occupation (p=0.043); IPV (p= 0.001). Moreover, significant associations between IPV and the following were also noted: age (p=0.012); marital status (p=0.027); occupation (p=0.023). Conclusion and recommendation: Pregnant women from low-income settlements are not immune to depressive affliction and IPV. Biopsychosocial approach toward the care of these women is therefore encouraged. Training of health care workers, especially those handling ANC mothers routinely, on basic depression and IPV screening skills, targeted counselling skills including couple counselling and appropriate referrals and follow ups is necessary. Moreover multi-sector approaches, at the decision making level, need to prioritize comprehensive policies that will help control depression and IPV pandemic.