Social Support Provided by Public Health Nurses and the Coping of First‐Time Mothers with Child Care

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to look at the factors related to the first-time mother's coping with child care when her child is 3 months old. This study is part of an extensive longitudinal project in which the development of mothering skills of first-time mothers was followed up for 8 months postpartum. The data were collected with a questionnaire between March and September 1995, in a sample of 271 first-time mothers. The mothers filled in the questionnaire when their babies were 3 months old. Coping with child care was assessed using Spearman correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis. Positive correlation was found between the mother's competence, attachment to the child, health, depression, relationship with the spouse, sense of isolation and role restriction, and the mother's coping with child care. The strongest correlation existed between the mother's competence and her coping. Positive correlation was also found between the child's mood, demandingness and acceptability, and the mother's coping with child care, with the child's demandingness having the strongest correlation. Positive correlation was again found between social support--the average functional support the mother received from her own social network, plus affect, affirmation, and aid from the public health nurses--and the mother's coping with child care. The predictors included in the multivariate method were the mother's competence, health, depression, and attachment to her child; the child's mood and ease or difficulty of care; and the affect and affirmation from the public health nurse. The results show that the first-time mother's coping with child care, when the child is 3 months old, is affected by the characteristics of both mother and child, as well as by the social support received from their social network and from the public health nurses at the child welfare clinic.

Postnatal Depression Is a Public Health Nursing Issue: Perspectives from Norway and Ireland

“…Furthermore, there was an elevated risk (2.92 times) of PND at 12 weeks in mothers with low emotional support, compared with those who received high emotional support at birth [18, 44]. In a study with first-time mothers ( n = 271), when their babies were 3 months old, Tarkka et al [70] showed that social support and support from public health nurses were important factors in first-time mothers coping with child care. Similar findings were reported from Taiwan, where findings revealed that nursing interventions enhanced women's ( n = 122) social support and decreased their PND [71].…”

Postnatal Depression in First-Time Mothers: Prevalence and Relationships Between Functional and Structural Social Support at 6 and 12 Weeks Postpartum

“…Social support has been investigated with new mothers in the postpartum period, both from mothers' perspective (Wilkins, 2006) and nurses' perspective (Tarkka, Paunonen, & Laippala, 1999). Research evidence indicates that support benefits the maternal health and well-being of new mothers in the postpartum period (Cronenwett, 1985;Dennis & Kingston, 2008;Leahy-Warren, & McCarthy, 2007;MacArthur, Winter, & Bick, 2007;Pridham, & Zavoral, 1988).…”

“…Previous research has used a variety of data collection methods (Pridham & Zavoral, 1988) and instruments to measure social support (Logsdon, Usui, Birkimer, & McBride., 1996;Reece, 1993), which make comparisons of results difficult. Previous studies examined the formal structural social support input of individual health professionals such as midwives only (Tarkka & Paunonen, 1996) or public health nurses only (Plews et al, 2005;Tarkka et al, 1999) and informal social support from peers, partners, and grandparents (Dennis, 2003;Dennis & Ross, 2006;Pridham & Zavoral, 1988). However, limited research that investigated formal and informal social support together exists.…”

“…However, limited research that investigated formal and informal social support together exists. Furthermore, a number of data collection points (Reece, 1993;Tarkka & Paunonen, 1996;Tarkka et al, 1999) were used with a paucity of longitudinal studies (Shaw et al, 2006) and in those using samples of first-time mothers only.…”

Prediction of maternal quality of life on preterm birth and low birthweight: a longitudinal study

“…For example, poor maternal health has a negative impact on the mothers’ infant care behaviors [20,21], and, as a result, their children experience poor physical health, emotional difficulty, and behavioral problems at three years of age [22]. …”