Emotional Intelligence in Postpartum Depression: A Scoping Review

Description

Page: 392-396

Sheeba John and Lucila O. Bance (The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines)

The most prevalent and devastating problem that arises following childbirth is Postpartum depression (PPD). It is recorded as the most common mental disorder among women in the postpartum period. PPD is better managed by women who have high Emotional intelligence which is the ability to understand and deal with their own emotions and those of others. By this scoping review, the researchers aim to make a clear picture of the existing literature on emotional intelligence in postpartum depression and figure out gaps in the existing body of knowledge. The researchers followed Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology in the process of scoping review. PubMed, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science were applied for reviewing the relevant articles published between 2011-2023. In the scoping review a total number of 14 articles, which got selected through different levels of scrutiny, were analyzed. The studies figured out that women with lower emotional intelligence were prone to postpartum depression compared to women with high emotional intelligence. the search methodology may have missed some relevant articles and the study did not identify specific study designs in advance, which may affect the comprehensiveness of the review. Developing interventions pointed at improving emotional intelligence and reducing symptoms of postpartum depression was also found to be the need of the time to help women to have a healthy mental state after childbirth.