Psychological distress in mothers of children admitted to a nutritional rehabilitation unit in M alawi – a comparison with other paediatric wards

Bibliographic Data

ID15537312
AuthorsSarah Colman (0000-0002-8332-4638, University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Robert C Stewart (0000-0002-0413-1388, University of Malawi), Colin Macarthur (0000-0003-0434-2158, University of Birmingham), Christine Macarthur (School of Health and Population Sciences University of Birmingham Birmingham UK), Neil Kennedy (0000-0002-6262-2679, University of Malawi), Barbara Tomenson (0000-0003-0230-9645, University of Manchester), Francis Creed (0000-0003-3077-5002, University of Manchester)
Year2013
Volume11
Issue4
Pages915-925
Publication date2013-11-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMaternal and Child Nutrition (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1740-8695 • E-ISSN: 1740-8709
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/mcn.12091
PMID24224802
OpenAlexW1903985053
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

In a previous study we found a very high prevalence of psychological distress in mothers of children admitted to a nutritional rehabilitation unit (NRU) in Malawi, Africa. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence and severity of maternal distress within the NRU with that in other paediatric wards. Given the known association between poor maternal psychological well-being and child undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries, we hypothesised that distress would be higher among NRU mothers. Mothers of consecutive paediatric inpatients in a NRU, a high-dependency (and research) unit and an oncology ward were assessed for psychological distress using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ). Two hundred sixty-eight mothers were interviewed (90.3% of eligible). The prevalence of SRQ score ≥8 was 35/150 {23.3% [95% confidence interval (CI) 16.8- 30.9%]} on the NRU, 13/84 [15.5% (95% CI 8.5-25.0%)] on the high-dependency unit and 7/34 [20.6% (95% CI 8.7-37.9%)] on the oncology ward (χ(2) = 2.04, P = 0.36). In linear regression analysis, the correlates of higher SRQ score were child diarrhoea on admission, child diagnosed with tuberculosis, and maternal experience of abuse by partner; child height-for-age z-score fell only just outside significance (P = 0.05). In summary, we found no evidence of greater maternal distress among the mothers of severely malnourished children within the NRU compared with mothers of paediatric inpatients with other severe illnesses. However, in support of previous research findings, we found some evidence that poor maternal psychological well-being is associated with child stunting and diarrhoea

Distress · Malnutrition · Mental health · Physical therapy · Psychiatry · Psychological distress · Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues · Clinical Psychology · Family and Disability Support Research · Infant Development and Preterm Care · Medicine · Internal Medicine · Pediatrics · Rehabilitation

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