Sapporo Medical Journal

Abstract : One in seven women are affected by postpartum depression which is an established clinical condition which affects women after childbirth. Pregnant women ought to be screened by employing a standardized tool evaluating them for depression and anxiety symptoms once through the pregnancy tenure to identify and manage the women at risk of developing postpartum depression. The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge perception of postpartum depression among citizens of Al- Ahsa located in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire oriented cross sectional study was executed over a period of one month. Study data was analyzed and evaluated in SPSS software version 21. A total of 446 participants responded the questionnaire, with a mean age of (35.2 ± 10.6 SD). Female participants (55.7%) were slightly more in number than the males. Most of the participants were married, employees, undergraduates and graduates. Regarding prevalence of Postpartum depression (PPD) most of them were unaware (60.4%) but majority identified symptoms of PPD correctly. Larger number of participants (74.3%) reflected that psychological intervention is effective in treating PPD. Half of them (54.8%.) did not have the idea about vitamins use in the treatment of PPD. Overall total of 60.51% participants answered the questionnaire correctly. Associations of the responses with independent variable were not statistically significant. It is concluded that Al-Ahsa inhabitants were capable of