Abstract
Abstract
One in 5 women will be diagnosed with depression over her lifetime with approximately 15% of these women having their initial onset of depression during pregnancy (Demissie,Dole, Evenson, Gaynes, & Siega-Riz, 2010). Despite recommendations and high acceptance by women and providers, only 20% of perinatal providers conduct proactive depression screening as part of prenatal care and less than 15% of pregnant/postpartum women receive the help they need (Kingston, D., et. al., 2014). Women with a lower socioeconomic status [SES] are more likely to have depression than women of a higher SES. Practitioners can better serve this population if the effects of depression on this population are studied and reported on along with effective interventions. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to 1) describe the prevalence of depression in pregnant women who are of a low socio economic status, 2) identify barriers to care, and 3) explore effective interventions used to treat depression in this population.
