Abstract

LARTIGUE, TERESA; CASANOVA, GERARDO; ORTIZ, JAVIER  and  ARANDA, CARLOS. Indicadores de malestar emocional y depresión en mujeres embarazadas con ITS-VIH/SIDA. Perinatol. Reprod. Hum. [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.2, pp.73-90. ISSN 2524-1710.

Objective: To evaluate the presence of indicators of emotional distress and depression in a group of pregnant women with sexually transmitted infections (STI) and to determine the validity and reliability of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ ^- 30) and of the Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Material and methods: Cases (women with an STI, predominantly viral ar mycotic) and controls (women without an STI) research, performed from 2000 to 2002 in a third level of attention institution, with an intentional, consecutive and autoselected, through informed consent, sample of 350 pregnant women. Results: Concurrent validity: the correlation coefficients of the GHQ and the EPDS (0.628 y 0.547) showed a significant association. Conceptual Validity GHQ: four components explained the 51.41% of the total variance. Internal consistency: Cronbach's alpha of 0.911 on the global scale and by factor between 0.876 and 0.789. Significant differences were found in factor 1 by comparing the means of the control group with the ones form the predominantly viral STI cases. EPDS: Two main components explained the 53.738% of total variance; the global Cronbach's alpha was of 0.847 and by factor of 0.828 and 0.648. Significant differences were obtained by comparing the control group with the predominantly viral STI cases group. Conclusions: Both instruments gather the psychometric characteristics required to be applied during gestation; women with an STI by HPV or HIV mentioned that they had a larger number of depression symptoms in comparison to women without a STI.

Keywords : Pregnancy; sexually transmitted infections; depression; emotional distress.