Effect of intimate partner violence during pregnancy on maternal mental health: a cohort study in central Vietnam

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore the effects of intimate partner violence during pregnancy (p-IPV) on postpartum depression among women in central Vietnam. p-IPV was defined among 150 women aged 18 years and older in the third trimester of their pregnancy. Baseline data was collected between February and May 2019, and then those women were followed up to 3–5 months after childbirth to assess depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Data collection was completed in September 2019. Relative risk was estimated to identify the effect of p-IPV on maternal postpartum depression. Twenty-one women reported IPV during pregnancy. In the follow-up assessment, 8 of 21 mothers exposed to p-IPV and 23 of 127 mothers not exposed to p-IPV developed postpartum depression. p-IPV including emotional and physical violence were increased the risk of postpartum depression. The findings support evidence that p-IPV increases the risk of postpartum depression among women in central Vietnam.

KEYWORDS:

• Cohort study
• intimate partner violence
• maternal health
• postpartum depression
• Vietnam

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge researcher team: Sara Valdebenito, Laura Campo Tena, and Vincent Harinam from Violence Research Centre, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK, and the EBLS academic consortium who have offers academic advice for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Evidence for Better Lives Foundation Study (EBLS-FS) led by the Violence Research Centre, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. The study’s information can be found at www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/vrcresearch/EBLS. We thank to the funding support from: the UK ESRC Impact Acceleration Fund [grant number ES/M500409/1]; the Foundation Botnar, Switzerland [grant number RG92422, research project 6132]; the Jacobs Foundation, Switzerland; the UBS Optimus Foundation, Switzerland; the University of Cambridge School of Social Sciences Research Support Fund, UK; the British Academy, UK; the Consuelo Foundation, the Philippines; and Queensland University of Technology, Australia.