Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 21;14(5):e078203.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078203.

Lived experiences of mothers with postnatal anxiety: a qualitative phenomenology study from Pakistan

Qamar Saeed  1 , Kashif Shafique  2 , Nasim Chaudhry  3
Affiliations

Lived experiences of mothers with postnatal anxiety: a qualitative phenomenology study from Pakistan

Qamar Saeed et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of postnatal anxiety is high among women during the first year of childbirth globally. Rates are higher in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), that is, 24%. Existing literature on maternal mood and its impact on child development has largely focused on postnatal depression. Postnatal anxiety has been recognised to have significant independent effects similar to those of postnatal depression, including negative effects on various aspects of maternal well-being including quality of life, parent-child interaction and child development. The evidence exploring lived experiences of postnatal anxiety is limited from LMICs. This study explored the lived experiences of anxiety in postnatal mothers in Pakistan.

Design: A phenomenological approach was used for this qualitative study. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using the process of thematic analysis.

Settings: The study was conducted in two community settings in Karachi, Pakistan; the Bin Qasim and Gadap town.

Participants: Women who were 18 years of age or older, had a live childbirth within the previous 12 months and had a score of 10 or higher on the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7.

Results: In-depth, one-to-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The qualitative data comprised of three themes. Theme one: Factors perceived to be associated with postnatal anxiety, Theme two: The perceived impact of postnatal anxiety and Theme three: Support needs. The first theme was further subdivided into two subthemes, that is, Mothers' perception of navigating domestic responsibilities and sociocultural norms of motherhood and financial constraints.

Conclusion: Despite the high prevalence of postnatal anxiety in LMICs there is not any published evidence on exploring this phenomenon through in-depth research in Pakistan. Understanding the lived experiences will help health professionals to identify women at risk of developing postnatal anxiety and to develop effective culturally appropriate interventions for women with anxiety during this postnatal period.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; mental health; postpartum period; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: NC is the CEO of the Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning. She is Associate Director of the Global Mental Health and Cultural Psychiatry Research Group, Head of Psychological Medicine at the Remedial Centre Hospital, Consultant Psychiatrist at South City Hospital, Consultant for Manchester Global Foundation and Professor of Psychiatry, Dow University of Health Sciences. NC has received travel grants from Lundbeck and Pfizer pharmaceutical companies to attend one national and one international academic meeting and conference in the last three years. She is a chief investigator and co-investigator for a number of research projects funded by various grant bodies such as the Medical Research Council, Welcome Trust, NIH-R and Global Challenges Research Fund.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Fawcett EJ, Fairbrother N, Cox ML, et al. . The prevalence of anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period: a multivariate Bayesian meta-analysis. J Clin Psychiatry 2019;80:18r12527. 10.4088/JCP.18r12527 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nielsen-Scott M, Fellmeth G, Opondo C, et al. . Prevalence of perinatal anxiety in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord 2022;306:71–9. 10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.032 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Norman SB, Cissell SH, Means-Christensen AJ, et al. . Development and validation of an overall anxiety severity and impairment scale (OASIS). Depress Anxiety 2006;23:245–9. 10.1002/da.20182 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Royal College of Midwives London . Maternal Mental Health: Improving Emotional Wellbeing in Postnatal Care. Royal College of Midwives London, 2014.
    1. Hoff CE, Movva N, Rosen Vollmar AK, et al. . Impact of maternal anxiety on Breastfeeding outcomes: a systematic review. Adv Nutr 2019;10:816–26. 10.1093/advances/nmy132 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types