Magnitude of Antenatal Depression and Associated Factors among Pregnant Women in West Badewacho Woreda, Hadiyya Zone, South Ethiopia: Community Based Cross Sectional Study.

Background: Antenatal depression is prevalent and serious problems that is associated with psychosocial factors, obstetric history, and history of psychiatric illness. Evidence on prevalence and factors associated with antenatal depression at community level is limited in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was assessing the prevalence of antenatal depression and associated factors among pregnant women in West Badewacho Woreda, Hadiyya Zone, South Ethiopia, 2018.

Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted from March 15 to April 12, 2018. To draw a total sample size of 541 pregnant women, multistage sampling technique was used. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire and standardized scale was used to collect data from each study subject. Data were entered and cleaned using Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Bivariate analysis was carried out to see crude association between each independent variable and outcome variable. Odds ratios at 95%CI were computed to measure the strength of the association between the outcome and the independent variables. -value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant in multivariate analysis.

Results: The prevalence of antenatal depression in the study population was 23.3% (CI: 19.8-26.8). Factors significantly associated with antenatal depression were marital status other than married (single, widowed, divorced) [AOR: (2.807; 95%CI: (1.268, 6.227); -value = 0.042], history of previous depression [AOR: 3.414; 95%CI: (1.154, 12.999); -value = 0.001] family history of mental illness [AOR: 3.874; 95%CI: (1.653, 7.052); -value = 0.028], recent violence from intimate partner [AOR: 3.223; 95%CI: (1.359, 7.643); -value = 0.008], unsatisfactory marital relation [AOR: 7.568; 95%CI: (3.943, 14.523); -value < 0.001], lack of adequate social support [AOR: 5.491; 95%CI: (2.086, 14.451); -value < 0.001] and unplanned current pregnancy [AOR: 2.013; 95%CI: (1.025, 3.953); -value = 0.042].

Conclusion: The prevalence of antenatal depression in west Badewacho woreda was high and it is associated with marital status, unplanned current pregnancy, history of previous depression, family history of mental illness, recent violence from intimate partner, poor marital satisfaction level, and poor social support. Improving maternal and child health services and introducing screening for depression as part of routine antenatal assessment to curb antenatal depression should get due attention.