Concerns of mothers in the first month postpartum

• Main Author: Tobert, Sharon R.
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26618

Program planning for postpartum mothers requires knowledge of the effects of parity and time since discharge on the mothers' perceptions of their level of concern regarding self, baby, partner and family. It was for this pupose that this descriptive correlational study was conducted. Thirty-one primiparas and thirty-six multiparas completed a 51 item maternal concerns questionnaire during their first two days after discharge from hospital and again at one month after discharge. Nonparametric tests were used to determine any significant difference in intensity and frequency of concern between the two groups of mothers and between the two time measures. The difference in intensity of concern between the two groups was not found to be significant for the total concerns at either time period. There were however, individual areas in which one group had significantly greater concern than the other. A significant difference was found in the intensity of the total concerns between the two time measures for both primiparas and multiparas. The results demonstrate a need for supportive-educative programs for both primiparas and multiparas in the first month postpartum. They also identify specific areas of concern in which the focus of the interventions may differ for these two groups of mothers. === Education, Faculty of === Educational Studies (EDST), Department of === Graduate