Optimism and other psychosocial influences on antenatal depression: A systematic review

Abstract

Antenatal depression is a debilitating experience for many women with significant personal and familial sequelae. Low-income pregnant women living in rural settings are especially vulnerable because of isolation, decreased resources, and stressful living environments. This systematic review summarizes what is known about antenatal depression and synthesizes the evidence regarding the role psychosocial variables could play in the development of safe, effective, and culturally-acceptable non-pharmacological interventions. Searches of the CINAHL, MEDLINE, PSYCHINFO, and ERIC databases, as well as the Cochrane Library, were conducted in September 2010 to identify articles relevant to our topic of study. Psychosocial variables have a significant association with antenatal depression. Optimism has been shown to be inversely correlated with depression, and directly correlated with improved birth outcomes. Optimism is a potentially modifiable variable that could be used to design antenatal prevention and treatment programs. As depression continues to increase in prevalence, and treatment options for pregnant women remain limited, effective interventions must be developed that address the psychosocial variables examined in this review.

Are Different Coping Styles Mitigating Perceived Stress Associated With Depressive Symptoms Among Pregnant Women?

“…Optimism refers to the tendency to make internal, global, and stable casual attributions for positive outcomes, that is, the general expectation for good things will happen in the future (Smitha, Ruizb, Cundiffa, Baronc, & Nealey‐Moored, ). Thus, optimism may reduce depressive symptoms because it encourages the adoption of PC styles when faced with stress (Evans, ). Optimism is positively related to cognitive and behavioral activities that increase when one deploys one's personal resources to cope with threatening and stressful occasions through a broaden‐and‐build process in Fredrickson's theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, ).…”

The role and competence of midwives in supporting women with mental health concerns during the perinatal period: A scoping review

“…Despite widespread screening and identification of women at risk, there are limited referral pathways for those women requiring extra support (Austin, ; Noonan, Jomeen, Galvin, & Doody, ). Furthermore, women are often reluctant to engage with specialist mental health services (Schmied et al., , ), for a myriad of reasons including fear of mental health stigma (Byatt et al., ; McLoughlin, ), and personal values and beliefs in relation to specialist mental healthcare (Bilszta, Erickken, Buist, & Milgrom, ; Evans & Bullock, ). Another reason women fall between the gap of maternity and specialist mental health services is because of the lag time between the antenatal screening process and being contacted by a mental health clinician (Myors, Johnson, Cleary, & Schmied, ).…”

Optimistic outlook regarding maternity protects against depressive symptoms postpartum

“…However the literature with respect to dispositional optimism and PPD specifically is scant (reviewed in Evans and Bullock 2012). Three studies have examined dispositional optimism as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms: two found a protective effect (Carver and Gaines 1987, n=75; Grote and Bledsoe 2006, n=179) while one found no independent effect (Fontaine and Jones 1997, n=45).…”