Original ArticlePostpartum fatigue, baby-care activities, and maternal–infant attachment of vaginal and cesarean births following rooming-in
Section snippets
Research design
The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design and three structured questionnaires for data collection.
Study participants
Under the diagnosis-related group-based (DRG-based) coverage policy used by the Bureau of National Health Insurance in Taiwan, women undergoing VB are eligible for daily co-payments for hospitalization expenses for a maximum of 3 days, while a maximum of 5 days is entitled to those undergoing CB. However, women with VB are likely to be discharged as early as 48 hours postpartum. For this
Demographic differences between women following VB and CB
The demographic variables of the two groups are shown in Table 1. They were analyzed using a t-test, chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test. Only age and educational level significantly differed between the two groups (Table 1).
Levels of postpartum fatigue, baby-care activities, and maternal–infant attachment between women following VB and CB
The mean scores for women's postpartum fatigue, baby-care activities, and maternal–infant attachment were 5.25 (SD = 2.18), 26.77 (SD = 6.78), and 93.07 (SD = 10.59) for the VB group, and 6.26 (SD = 1.78), 25.03 (SD = 7.57), and 94.72 (SD = 11.29) for the CB group.
Relationships between postpartum fatigue and difficulty with baby-care activities and maternal–infant attachment for women following VB and CB
Postpartum
Discussion
Postpartum fatigue is a common condition following VB and CB. Women with greater perceived postpartum fatigue had greater difficulty carrying out baby-care activities in a rooming-in setting, regardless of whether they had undergone VB or CB. This agrees with previous findings that postpartum fatigue not only influences but also predicts the level of difficulty with which baby-care activities are carried out (McQueen & Mander, 2003) and that fatigued mothers find it difficult to room-in with
Acknowledgments
This study was supported in part by a grant from the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH96-6R32). The authors thank the help from the Statistical Analysis Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University.
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