Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Postpartum Depression Screening and Management Skills Among Midwives in Selected Hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria

Despite being one of the most under-recognized morbidities in the world, postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious health problem for many women from different cultures. This study therefore assessed knowledge, attitude and practice of postpartum depression screening and management skills among midwives in selected hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria. The descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted in the study. The population targeted for the study were nurse-midwives working in post-natal wards and child welfare clinic in selected hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria. Sample size of 200 was used after using Leslie Kish formula to calculate sample size. Sample size was selected through multi-stage sampling procedure. A self-structured questionnaire that focuses on assessing knowledge, attitude and practice of PPD screening and management skills was used for data collection. The obtained Cronbach alpha values for section B, C and D of the instrument were 0.866, 0.883 and 0.821 respectively, hence the instrument was adjudged reliable. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing the data collected while the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that more than half of the respondents had good knowledge and attitude towards PPD screening and management skills while only half of the respondents were willing to partake in screening and management of women with PPD. The degree of knowledge of nurse-midwives is not at the expected level since the majority still lacks awareness of risk factors and how to identify PPD. It was recommended among others that Government/appropriate authorities should provide education, training programs and seminar on PPD screening and management skills for nurses and midwives.

Keywords: Attitude, Knowledge, Management skills, Postpartum Depression (PPD), Practice, Screening,