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Coping styles associated with post-traumatic stress and depression symptoms following childbirth in croatian women
Childbirth is a normative event in a woman's life and is considered as a positive event. However, one in three women perceive childbirth as a physical threat to themselves or their new-born and 3% of women develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following childbirth. Poor coping strategies have been associated with PTSD following childbirth. However, previous studies mainly utilised unidimensional measures of coping strategies, therefore, it remains to be investigated which specific dimensions of coping are more predictive of PTSD after childbirth. The aims of this study were to explore whether women in Croatia report PTSD symptoms following childbirth, and how different coping styles were related to PTSD and depression symptoms. Women (N = 160) who gave birth in the last two years, completed an online questionnaire measuring PTSD symptoms (Impact of Event Scale â IES), postnatal depression symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale â EPDS) and coping styles (Brief Cope). In this sample, 1.9% reported severe PTSD symptoms following childbirth and 21.9% reported depression symptoms. Many women (66.7%) with PTSD symptoms reported depression symptoms. On the other hand, 28.6% of women with depression symptoms also reported PTSD symptoms, showing that there is a higher co-morbidity of PTSD and depression than vice versa. Avoidant coping styles, specifically, denial and self-blame were positively correlated with both PTSD and depression symptoms. Moreover, of avoidant coping styles, behavioural disengagement was positively correlated with PTSD symptoms only, while self-distraction was positively correlated with depression symptoms only. Also, lower levels of planning and higher levels of emotional support were related to higher levels of depression. However, after controlling for postnatal psychopathology symptoms, coping styles were not significant predictors of PTSD symptoms, but self-blame was a significant predictor of depression symptoms. Psychopathological symptoms following childbirth are reported by Croatian women and are related to coping styles. The avoidant coping style, self-blame, is particularly associated with depression symptoms. Future studies should explore predictors of postpartum PTSD in Croatian women in more representative samples during pregnancy and with the follow-up after childbirth. Also, screening for postnatal psychopathological symptoms should be performed both for depression and PTSD symptoms
On some singularities of the correlation functions that determine neutrino opacities
Certain perturbation graphs in the calculation of the effects of the medium
on neutrino scattering in supernova matter have a nonintegrable singularity in
a physical region. A number of papers have addressed the apparent pathology
through an ansatz that invokes higher order (rescattering) effects. Taking the
Gamow-Teller terms as an example, we display an expression for the spin-spin
correlation function that determines the cross-sections. It is clear from the
form that there are no pathologies in the order by order perturbation
expansion. Explicit formulae are given for a simple case, leading to an answer
that is very different from one given by other authors.Comment: 8 page
Many-Body Corrections to Charged-Current Neutrino Absorption Rates in Nuclear Matter
Including nucleon--nucleon correlations due to both Fermi statistics and
nuclear forces, we have developed a general formalism for calculating the
charged--current neutrino--nucleon absorption rates in nuclear matter. We find
that at one half nuclear density many--body effects alone suppress the rates by
a factor of two and that the suppression factors increase to 5 at
g cm. The associated increase in the neutrino--matter
mean--free--paths parallels that found for neutral--current interactions and
opens up interesting possibilities in the context of the delayed supernova
mechanism and protoneutron star cooling.Comment: 11 pages, APS REVTeX format, 1 PostScript figure, uuencoded
compressed, and tarred, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Women's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period in the Gambia: A qualitative study
Objective: In sub-Saharan African countries, there are unique cultural factors and adverse physical conditions that contribute to women's experiences of pregnancy and birth. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore women's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, the postnatal period, and maternal psychological distress in The Gambia.
Design and methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 55 women who had given birth within the previous year.
Results: Thematic analysis identified five themes: (1) transition to adulthood, (2) physical difficulties, (3) value of children in relation to others, (4) children as a strain, and (5) going through it alone. The results suggest that having a child is a defining point in women's lives associated with happiness and joy. However, women also described situations which could lead to unhappiness and distress in the perinatal period. A child conceived out of wedlock or a baby girl can be sources of distress because of negative cultural perceptions. The strain of having a child, particularly the additional financial burden, and minimal support from men were also a concern for women. Finally, women recognized the danger associated with delivery and expressed recurrent worries of complications during childbirth which could result in the death of them or the baby.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to identify women vulnerable to psychological distress so that health services and target interventions can be developed accordingly
Numerical Toy-Model Calculation of the Nucleon Spin Autocorrelation Function in a Supernova Core
We develop a simple model for the evolution of a nucleon spin in a hot and
dense nuclear medium. A given nucleon is limited to one-dimensional motion in a
distribution of external, spin-dependent scattering potentials. We calculate
the nucleon spin autocorrelation function numerically for a variety of
potential densities and distributions which are meant to bracket realistic
conditions in a supernova core. For all plausible configurations the width of
the spin-density structure function is found to be less than the temperature.
This is in contrast with a naive perturbative calculation based on the one-pion
exchange potential which overestimates the width and thus suggests a large
suppression of the neutrino opacities by nucleon spin fluctuations. Our results
suggest that it may be justified to neglect the collisional broadening of the
spin-density structure function for the purpose of estimating the neutrino
opacities in the deep inner core of a supernova. On the other hand, we find no
indication that processes such as axion or neutrino pair emission, which depend
on nucleon spin fluctuations, are substantially suppressed beyond the
multiple-scattering effect already discussed in the literature. Aside from
these practical conclusions, our model reveals a number of interesting and
unexpected insights. For example, the spin-relaxation rate saturates with
increasing potential strength only if bound states are not allowed to form by
including a repulsive core. There is no saturation with increasing density of
scattering potentials until localized eigenstates of energy begin to form.Comment: 14 latex pages in two-column format, 15 postscript figures included,
uses revtex.sty and epsf.sty. Submitted to Physical Review
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