Prevalence and Characteristics of Stress Among Bereaved Parents After the Death of Their Under-Five Children in The Urban Slums of Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction To understand the prevalence of stress and identifying the prevalence of different differentials of stress among bereaved parents of died under-five children is of utmost importance. This paper is based on the data from Karachi VASA under-five mortality study. The cases of this study are bereaved parents of deceased under-five children belonging to randomly selected 12 slums of Karachi city. Methodology A total of 321 parents excluded out form enrolment in VASA study were undergone stress assessment using Sadaf Stress Scale (SSS). It was found that 100% of them were truly stressed in one form or the other and the distribution is equally affecting all the slums (with slight variations). Females were found highly stressed (72%) than males (28%). The most prevalent types of stress identified were emotional (67%), traumatic (17.2%) and mental stress (7%). Out of all the stressed parents, a high proportion belongs to highest severity. The highest prevalence of the severity of traumatic stress shows that the large proportion of stressed parents have gone to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), especially among mothers. Conclusion The results are quiet disturbing. The data shows that there is a high prevalence of traumatic, physical and emotional stress among bereaved parents (especially mothers) of deceased children. The prevalence of traumatic stress and its severity shows that a high proportion of stressed parents have gone to PTSD, which again have a huge impact on the overall mental health of the affected and the close family members.