| Summary: | In British Columbia (BC), as many as one in five women will experience some form of depression in the pregnancy and postpartum period. Perinatal depression, which refers to both the prenatal and postpartum period, is a crippling disorder with harmful repercussions for the mother, fetus, infant, and close family members. Of women diagnosed with postpartum depression, 30% have the initial onset of depression during pregnancy. Most importantly, depression and anxiety in pregnancy is one of the strongest predictors of postpartum depression. Immigrant women are at a particularly high risk for prenatal depression due to the numerous stressors associated with migration and acculturation. As South Asian immigrant women comprise a large proportion of Canadian immigrants, prenatal depression within this group needs to be more clearly understood. In this study, the research questions were: 1) What are the prevalence rates for prenatal depressive symptoms? 2) What socio-demographic or other factors are associated with prenatal depressive symptoms? and 3) What is the role of gender and culture in women with prenatal depressive symptoms? A mixed methods study design was used to analyze in-depth interviews, with interpretive description, in relation to a secondary analysis of data from the Fraser Health prenatal registration database. The findings suggest that South Asian immigrant women are at a higher risk for perinatal depression and demographic factors play a role. Punjabi-speaking women, particularly those who indicate the need for an interpreter, are more likely to report prenatal depressive symptoms compared to English-speaking women. Themes were generated from the interviews such as: disruption of family and social supports, triggers of depression: the intersection between biology and life events, social and structural conditions, psychosocial stressors: immigration process, and South Asian cultural roles and dynamics. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
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