Investigating the Relationship Between Children, Depression, and Pain in Black Women With Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) - Investigating the Relationship Between Children, Depression, and Pain in Black Women With Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) - Open Access Pub

Medical advances in obstetrics and hematology have encouraged researchers to investigate the reproductive risk in women with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) attempting motherhood. However, few hematological studies have been completed focused specifically on the reproductive mental health of Black women with SCD. Historically women with SCD have been guided away from childbirth under the premise that they were not emotionally or physically capable of managing children. One question that remains unclear, from the limited research available in this area, is whether the presence of children serves to influence mood and pain in Black women with SCD. The current study examined the effects of the presence of children on self-reported pain and depressive symptoms and the relationship between pain and psychological functioning in African American women with SCD. Self-reported rates of depression, pain intensity, and pain severity were evaluated in 70 African American females with SCD. Results of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) did not find differences in reported mood or pain between women with and without children. The current study serves as an initial observation upon which replication of the current findings and future prospective studies can be conducted. The study may ultimately mature into an area of research that guides reproductive decision-making for women with SCD and their doctors. DOI 10.14302/issn.2372-6601.jhor-14-499 The experience of motherhood is differentially defined and experienced as a function of factors such as culture, race, religion, age, and gender. For example, men may view the construct of “motherhood” quite differently than women1, or post-menopausal women may view the construct differently than women still in their child bearing ages2. Nonetheless, within the diversity of the construct of motherhood lies the commonality of an intimate kinship experience for the purpose of facilitating the rearing and maturation of offspring within societal guidelines. There is a multitude of factors that influence how motherhood is manifest, but few studies have ever explored the impact of motherhood on African American women with a genetic disorder such as Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)1. The process by which women with SCD decide whether to conceive a child or the impact of having a child has yet to be explored. Prunty and colleagues (2008) 1 defined the motherhood decision in the family planning framework as the choice to forego, start or enlarge a family. Women with illness and diseases have often viewed motherhood as a risky venture due to