Expectant Mother's Optimism During Pregnancy

Nancy Grote and Sarah Bledsoe (2007) later studied the relationship between an expectant mother’s optimism during pregnancy and the display of depressive symptoms six to twelve months after giving birth. A longitudinal study was conducted on a sample of women by giving a survey at three different periods of time in their life: during their third trimester, six months postpartum, and a year postpartum. Grote and Bledsoe found that optimism during pregnancy had a strong negative correlation with stress frequency. Some factors that contributed to a woman’s stress frequency included low income and spousal stress. These findings have several important implications to social work professionals. First, in order important to initially assess expectant mothers for both risk factors, such as depression severity and stress frequency during pregnancy, and protective factors, such as degree of optimism. Optimism can be enhanced by equipping clients with more constructive coping strategies to deal with problems linked with their depressive symptoms and to prepare for the arrival of their child. Second, in order to reduce postpartum depression and the frequency of stress, social workers need to help their clients identify these stressors and deal with them effectively. This may involve connecting the new mother to social services that can help diminish sources of

Expecting mothers should be encouraged to actively plan for this transition in life prior to delivery by communicating their goals and needs to their support team. Developing coping skills and mentally preparing for change can increase an expecting mother’s optimism. More so, Grote and Bledsoe emphasize that it is important to teach women constructive coping skills that they can apply to many areas of their life rather than teaching them avoidance coping skills that push them to bypass the