Postpartum depression in Vietnam: a scoping review of symptoms, consequences, and management

BMC Women’s Health (2023) 23:391 Nguyen et al. BMC Women’s Health https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02519-5 Open Access RESEARCH Postpartum depression in Vietnam: a scoping review of symptoms, consequences, and management Huyen Thi Hoa Nguyen1,2*, Phuong Anh Hoang1,3, Thi Kim Ly Do4, Andrew W. Taylor‑Robinson1 and Thi Thanh Huong Nguyen1 Abstract Background Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major health issue that can affect both mothers and their newborn children. In Vietnam, approximately 20% of mothers suffer from PPD. However, there is a lack of synthesized evidence regarding the case management of PPD in the Vietnamese context. A review of early symptoms, consequences, and management strategies of PPD will help to inform best practices to reduce complications and shorten the recov‑ ery time after parturition. Methods This scoping review aims to analyze and synthesize the findings of studies on PPD examining the symp‑ toms, consequences, and management strategies among Vietnamese women. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, Scien‑ ceDirect, EBSCOHost, Google Scholar, and a networked digital library of projects, theses, and dissertations published between 2010 and 2022 in Vietnam were accessed following search terms including “Vietnam”, “depression”, “postpar‑ tum”, “symptom/experience”, “consequence”, and “management”. Findings The most-reported symptoms were sadness, tiredness, the feeling of being ignored, lack of inter‑ est in the baby, reduced appetite, and sleep disturbance. The recognized consequences were child stunting and slow growth, without mentioning its long-term effects on mothers. Our findings indicated that PPD in Vietnam has not been sufficiently managed; mothers tend to seek help from ‘fortune-tellers’ or ‘word-of-mouth’ practices rather than from evidence-based modern medicine. Conclusion This scoping review provides an initial stage of PPD symptoms, consequences, and management along with facilitating an interventional program to support this vulnerable group of women. A large survey of Viet‑ namese mothers’ symptoms, effects, and management strategies is needed. Keywords Postpartum depression, Symptom, Consequence, Management, Vietnam Statement of Significance (SOS) Problem or issue *Correspondence: Huyen Thi Hoa Nguyen Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Although postpartum depression (PPD) has long been recognized as a maternal health problem resulting in burdens for both mother and infant, there is still a lack of evidence regarding symptoms, consequences, and how it is managed in the Vietnamese setting. © The Author(s) 2023. 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The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Nguyen et al. BMC Women’s Health (2023) 23:391 What is already known? Studies examining PPD in Vietnam have revealed a high prevalence, approximately 20%, of women suffering from PPD. Common symptoms of PPD were also reported previously, but not a scoping review, in Vietnamese or English, of the early recognition of symptoms, consequences, and effective management strategies. What this paper adds This study is the first scoping review synthesizing common symptoms, their consequences, and available management strategies for women in Vietnam. The findings indicate the importance of early detection of PPD symptoms in nursing practice. The paper offers a comprehensive evaluation of evidence in the Vietnamese context that supports the development of health education programs for the community and establishes a framework for the management of PPD. Background Postpartum depression (PPD), also defined as non-psychotic depression, with onset within 4–6 weeks of giving birth up to six months or even later, is a major maternal health problem [1–3]. The prevalence of PPD worldwide is around 15% [3–5], while in Asian countries the reported range is from 3.5% to 63.3% [6]. In Vietnam, the PPD rate is approximately 20% [7–10]. Untreated PPD affects not only a mother’s mental and physical health but also their child’s development [11] and family relationships, particularly mother–child bonding [4]. As such, management of PPD is essential to improving the health outcomes of both mother and child [12, 13]. Most of the recent research on PPD has focused heavily on the prevalence and risk factors of PPD [14, 15] in order to improve community awareness regarding the importance of preventing PPD. The fact that depression is often overlooked during pregnancy or the postpartum period emphasizes the need for timely screening of obstetrical and primary care symptoms [16]. More importantly, the diagnostic guidelines of PPD [2] state that some symptoms should be linked with moderate to severe intensity and distress. This generated questions for nurses about how to recognize early and manage the common symptoms of pregnant women diagnosed with PPD [17]. Despite the fact that symptoms of PPD are consistent across nations, early screening, which is influenced by the sociopolitical perceptions of mental health illness and evidence-based information [18, 19], would reduce the risk of PPD’s potentially negative effects on both the mother and the infant. In Vietnam, the National Guidelines on Reproductive Healthcare services in 2016 clearly Page 2 of 19 outlined the caring instructions for healthcare workers in 1-day, 1-week and 6-week after birth but none of the emphasis on mental screening was mentioned [20], which limited the nursing practices on mental care and early screening for postpartum women. Additionally, inadequate acknowledgment and community understanding of mental health illnesses, including PPD, as well as societal stigmatization of those who suffer from them, discourage women, family members, and the community from reporting and recognizing symptoms in a timely and proper manner [21, 22]. Moreover, mental diseases are frequently disregarded and, when they do, are blamed on fate or faults the person did in a past life. Symptoms, consequences, and follow-up (...truncated)