Correlates of depression and PTSD in Cambodian women with young children: a pilot study

Abstract

A self-selected sample of 31 Cambodian mothers in Australia were interviewed about their pre-migration experiences and about childbirth. There was a significant relationship between the number of trauma events experienced prior to birth and psychological morbidity following birth. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale appears particularly sensitive to detecting postnatal distress in these women while there appears to have been no significant buffer effect by the womans social support network. While no causal model can be supported by this pilot study there is a suggestion that traumatic events experienced prior to birth may indicate that the woman is at risk for emotional difficulties postpartum. (authors)