Correlates of depression and PTSD in Cambodian women with young children: A pilot study

A self-selected sample of 31 Cambodian mothers in Australia were interviewe d about their pre-migration experiences and about childbirth. There was a s ignificant relationship between the number of trauma events experienced pri or to birth and psychological morbidity following birt'h. The Edinburgh Pos tnatal Depression Scale appears particularly sensitive to detecting postnat al distress in these women, while there appears to have been no significant buffer effect by the woman's social support network. While no causal model can be supported by this pilot study, there is a suggestion that traumatic events experienced prior to birth may indicate that the woman is at risk f or emotional difficulties postpartum. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.