Development of Social Life Impact for Mother (SLIM) scale at first trimester to identify mothers who need social support postpartum: a hospital-based prospective study in Japan

Abstract

Objective: To develop and validate the Social Life Impact for Mother (SLIM) scale to identify mothers in Japan who need social support postpartum.

Methods: Hospital-based prospective study was implemented nationwide in Japan. A total of 7462 pregnant women completed the SLIM scale in their first trimester, and postpartum social problems (postpartum depression and bonding disorders) were assessed at 1 month after delivery (N = 5768, follow-up rate 77.3%). Multivariate logistic regression was applied to investigate the association between SLIM scale and postpartum social problems.

Results: The SLIM scale is made up of nine risk factors for postpartum social problems, including relationship problems, lower financial status, and lack of social support. The SLIM scale predicted postpartum social problems with moderate accuracy (area under the curve 0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.60-0.65). Further stratification by local clinic and tertiary hospital did not affect the estimates.

Conclusion: The SLIM scale at prenatal check-up may be useful for obstetricians to detect mothers with postpartum social problems. Further intervention studies using the SLIM score are warranted.

Keywords: bonding disorders; child abuse; postpartum depression; pregnant women.