In search of health: quality of life among postpartum Palestinian women

Abstract

Objectives: The postpartum period is a very important period for the health of the mother and the newborn. Despite its importance, research on this period is limited and tends to be more focused on biomedical aspects of the postpartum period. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, little is known regarding women’s postpartum wellbeing. This study utilizes the Maternal Postpartum Quality-of-Life instrument to assess Palestinian women’s postpartum quality of life and the factors associated with variations in their quality-of-life scores. Methods: A cross-sectional survey utilizing the adapted Maternal Postpartum Quality-of-Life Questionnaire was completed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory with a final sample size of 1020 women. Results: The mean overall quality-of-life score for the sample was 21.53 (maximum = 30), suggesting that women are slightly satisfied with their lives in the postpartum period. Main variations in quality-of-life scores were associated with regional district, refugee status, the loss of a relative due to Israeli occupation violence, standard of living and pregnancy wantedness. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the diversity and complexity of the social context, in particular the region where women live, and the issue of pregnancy wantedness in postpartum quality of life. They also call into question the services currently offered to postpartum women.

Keywords::

• Palestine
• postnatal
• postpartum
• quality of life
• wellbeing

Ethical conduct of research

Verbal consent was received from the participants of the study. Full disclosure of study objectives, secrecy, anonymity and the full freedom to take part in or discontinue participation in the study were assured to the study participants. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee at the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This paper is part of a larger regional research project on Changing Childbirth in the Arab Region, sponsored by the Center for Research on Population and Health at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with generous support from the Wellcome Trust. Partial support for the writing of this paper was provided by United Nations Population Fund. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.