Psychological distress, stressful life events and social disadvantage in pregnant Indigenous Australian women residing in rural and remote NSW: a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy can be a stressful time for many women. Australian Indigenous women of childbearing age (18–44 years) have been found to experience high or very high rates of psychological distress. However, few studies have examined the burden of or any associations between stressful life events, social disadvantage and psychological distress for pregnant Indigenous women in Australia. Methods: Two hundred sixty-one rural and remote women, pregnant with an Indigenous infant, from New South Wales in Australia were invited to provide data regarding social disadvantage then complete the Kessler-10 and Stressful Life Events surveys via self-report during each trimester of their pregnancy. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were performed to determine the burden of and any associations between the variables of interest. Results: High rates of psychological distress were reported by participants with 16.9% scoring severe distress levels during their pregnancy. Participants also reported high rates of stressful life events with almost 25% experiencing the death of a family member or friend, almost 14% living in overcrowded accommodation, 11% having someone close to them jailed and 8% experience separation from their partner, during their pregnancies. Distress was associated with numerous stressful life events (e.g. witnessing violence, a family member in jail and overcrowding) and one aspect of social disadvantage (smoking status). Conclusions: Immediate attention needs to focus on the development of interventions to address the high levels of psychological distress and provide appropriate support services during periods of major life events for pregnant Australian Indigenous women.