LEARNED HELPLESSNESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT AS PREDICTORS OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AMONG NURSING MOTHERS WHO UNDERWENT C-SECTION IN MAKURDI
Abstract
The severity of depression among nursing mothers has been increasing over the years. Many attempts have been made by medical specialty to identify the determinants of postpartum depression. Therefore, this study employed a cross-sectional survey design to investigate learned helplessness and social support as predictors of postpartum depression among nursing mothers in Makurdi. The participants for this study were 245 nursing mothers who underwent C-Section from Federal Medical Center Makurdi and General Hospital North-bank. Their ages ranged from 24 to 48years with a mean age of 38.12years (SD=8.00). To draw the sample for the study, a census sampling technique was used. For data collection, the Learned Helplessness Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale were used. Simple linear regression, multiple linear regression, and standard multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicated that learned helplessness had a significant influence on postpartum depression among nursing mothers. The result also indicated that social support had a significant influence on postpartum depression among nursing mothers. Lastly, a significant joint influence of learned helplessness and social support on postpartum depression was observed among nursing mothers. Thus, there is a need for nursing mothers to avail themselves for postnatal counseling where they will be counseled on some of the problems, they may have surrounded their delivery and also be educated on the risk factors of postpartum depression, such as learned helplessness
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Learned Helplessness, Social Support, Postpartum Depression, Women, C-Section, MakurdiDownloads
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14713124%20Issue
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ngbea Anna Garos, Kwaghgbah Abraham Tersugh, Orga Martins, Tyoaba Kater, , Elawani Ene Martha, Abege Terna (Ph.D.), Mtaghernyi Chia, Ameh Ene Mary, Abo Agada Onmonya, Apev Jeremiah Keghter, Atengo Barnabas, Akuen David Igbawase
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