Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-9nwgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-15T14:49:14.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mental health and female sterilization

Report of a WHO collaborative prospective study*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

A. Jablensky
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In order to evaluate the mental health aspects of voluntary sterilization for family planning purposes, WHO initiated in 1978 a multi-centre prospective controlled study. A total of 926 healthy women with at least two living children, who requested sterilization (interval, post-partum or post-abortion), and 924 controls using other methods of contraception, were selected for a prospective investigation which included pre-operative and post-operative (6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year) standardized assessment of mental state and a range of variables related to physical health and psychosexual functioning. Although pre-operatively a high proportion of subjects in both index and control groups reported minor non-specific psychiatric symptoms the percentage of women meeting defined criteria of psychiatric disorder was low to moderate (less than 15%) in all centres except Cali (26%). In all centres the pre-operative rates of psychiatric disorder were somewhat higher in the sterilization groups than in the control groups, and in two centres (Cali and Chandigarh) this difference was statistically significant. Thus, the data indicate that women choosing sterilization for birth control tend to show pre-operatively more psychiatric disturbance than their control counterparts who opt for other methods of contraception.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adeleye, J.A. (1978) Female sterilization by laparotomy and tubal ligation. Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2, 91.Google Scholar
Baker, J.N., Inayatullah, A., Farooqui, N. & Chaudhry, I. (1982) The Psychological and Physical Effects of Minilaparotomy. A Prospective Controlled Evaluation. Family Planning Association of Pakistan.Google Scholar
Brown, G.W., Davidson, S., Harris, T., MacLean, W., Pollock, S. & Prudo, R. (1977) Psychiatric disorder in London and North Uist. Social Sci. Med. 11, 367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G.W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. Tavistock, London.Google Scholar
Cooper, J.E., Copeland, J.R., Brown, G.W., Harris, T. & Gourlay, A.J. (1977) Further studies on interviewer training and inter-rater reliability of the Present State Examination (PSE). Psychol. Med. 7, 516.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, P., Gath, D., Rose, N. & Fieldsend, R. (1982) Psychological sequelae to elective sterilization: a prospective study. Br. med. J. 284, 461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dube, K. C. (1970) A study of prevalence and biosocial variables in mental illness in a rural and an urban community in Uttar Pradesh, India. Acta psychiat. scand. 46, 327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enoch, M.D. & Jones, K. (1975) Sterilization: a review of 98 sterilized women. Br. J. Psychiat. 127, 583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Escudero, M.M. (1972) Mental disorders in a Philippine community: an epidemiological survey. In: Transcultural Research in Mental Health. Edited by Lebra, W. P.. East–West Center, Hawaii.Google Scholar
Fabrega, H. & Wallace, W.H. (1967) Working class Mexican outpatients, Archs gen. Psychiat. 16, 704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleming, O. & Seager, C.P. (1978) Incidence of depressive symptoms in users of the oral contraceptive. Br. J. Psychiat. 132, 431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khorana, A.B. & Vyas, A.A. (1975) Psychological complications in women undergoing voluntary sterilisation by salphingectomy. Br. J. Psychiat. 127, 67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, T. & Chun, D. (1967) A long-term follow-up study of 1,055 cases of post-partum tubal ligation. J. Obstet. Gynaec. Br. Commonw. 74, 875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Micklin, M. & Leon, C.A. (1978) Life change and psychiatric disturbance in a South American City: the effects of geographic and social mobility. J. Hlth social Behav. 19, 92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Presser, H.B. (1970) Voluntary sterilisation: a world view. Rep. Popul. Fam. Plann. 156, 354.Google Scholar
Schwyhart, W.R. & Kutner, S.J. (1973) A re-analysis of female reactions to contraceptive sterilisation. J. nerv. merit. Dis. 156, 354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitelaw, R.G. (1979) Ten-year survey of 485 sterilised women. Br. med. J. 1, 32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wig, N.N., Gupta, A.N., Khatri, R. & Verma, S.K. (1977) A prospective study of psychiatric and menstrual disturbances following tubal ligation. Ind. J. med. Res. 66, 581.Google ScholarPubMed
Wing, J.K., Cooper, J.E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Wing, J.K., Nixon, J.M., Mann, S.A. & Leff, J.P. (1977) Reliability of the PSE (9th ed) used in a population study. Psychol. Med. 7, 505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, J.K., Nixon, J.M., Mann, S.A. & Leff, J.P. (1978) The concept of a ‘case’ in psychiatric population surveys. Psychol. Med. 7, 505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar