Pregnant Women's Worries Living in a Post-disaster Community

Background/Purpose: The stress from long term disaster recovery impacts the health of a community. Populations such as pregnant women are especially vulnerable since psychosocial stress is associated with negative perinatal outcomes, such as PTB and maternal mental health problems.  The purpose of this study was to describe pregnant women’s mental health status, psychosocial concerns and worries while living in communities that were affected by Hurricane Katrina between five and seven years prior.

Methods: Women (n=402) were interviewed in pregnancy between 24-40 weeks gestation for this cross-sectional study. Measures analyzed included depression (Edinburgh Depression Scale), post-traumatic stress disorder (Post-traumatic Checklist), pregnancy-related distress (Lobel scale), and their perception of disaster recovery. Linear regression was used to model mental health outcomes, with adjustment for race, marital status, education, employment, age, and smoking.  Descriptive statistics and content analysis were conducted to determine common sources of stress indicated from open-ended questions.

Results/Outcomes: Women in this study were predominantly African-American, unemployed, and low income. Participants reported life to be still somewhat to very disrupted (35%). Depression was the most common mental health problem, with women scoring “at risk” (52.9%) and “likely” (30.7%) depressed. Common stressful experiences in the past year included: moving to new address (46.5%), close family member hospitalized (49.4%) or died (31.9%), partner or self were unemployed (47.6),  arguing more with partner (31.8) incarnation of partner or self (12.8 %), immigration/separated from children (4.8%).         

Conclusion: Identifying women’s sources of stress helps communities to better plan disaster response that supports unique needs of childbearing families.