Magnitude and associated factors of suicidal behavior among postpartum mothers attending public health centers of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: In low-income nations, suicidal conduct increases within the first year following delivery, ranging from 4 to 17.6%, with a three-fold cause of maternal death. Suicidal behavior was also reported to be 14% among postpartum women in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: To assess the magnitude and associated factors of suicidal behavior among postpartum mothers attending public health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in ten public health facilities of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a total sample size of 615 women. The data were entered into Epi data 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for statistical analysis. A logistic regression model with adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value of ≤0.05 was used to identify predictors of the outcome variable. RESULTS: The magnitude of suicidal behavior among postnatal mothers attending public health centers in Addis Ababa was 41.46% with 95%CI (35.2-44.5%). Being mother’s literate (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.42-0.97), verbal abuses (AOR = 2.18, 95% CI: 1.38-3.44), history of rape (AOR = 3.03, 95% CI 1.14 -8.05), history of depression (AOR = 4.12, 95% CI 1.21-14.03), women’s having sexually unfaithful husband (AOR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.14-6.23) and khat chewing (AOR = 8.48, 95% CI 2.52-28.50) were significantly associated with suicidal behavior. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of suicidal behavior among postnatal mothers attending public health centers in Addis Ababa was 41.46% and it was found to be associated with being literate, rape, verbal abuse, having a history of depression, having a sexually unfaithful husband and chewing khat. As a result, women should be screened for suicidal behavior during antenatal and postnatal services for early detection and management.