ABSTRACTObjectives: To investigate whether mothers of preterm infants experience morepsychological distress than mothers of normal full term infants in the immediatepostpartum period.Design: Cross sectional prospective study of postpartal women using the Beck DepressionInventory(BDI) and the GHQ-30.Setting: Neonatal intensive care units and the obstetric units of Wesley Guild Hospital,Ilesa or Multipurpose Health Centre, Ilesa(These are component Units of ObafemiAwolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State Nigeria).Results: Of the 60 postnatal women recruited into the study, 33 mothers of pretermneonates formed the index group and 27 mothers of full term normal infants constitutedthe control group. More mothers of preterm neonates(27.3%) had GHQ-30 scores whichcategorised them as having significant emotional distress than mothers of full termnormal infants(3.7%). Similarly more mothers of preterm neonates(15.1%) were moredepressed than mothers of full term normal infants(3.7%). These differences were foundto be statistically significant when the mean scores of the two groups on the instrumentswere compared.Conclusion: These problems are not usually detected nor appropriately referred by thepaediatrician/obstetrician to the psychiatrist. This has a number of implications forpreventive psychiatry. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore essential in the detectionand management of these problems
