Paper: Physical Exhaustion, Happiness, and Maternal Competence of Chinese Postpartum Mothers in the United States and Taiwan (40th Biennial Convention (October 31st- November 4th, 2009))

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Ching-Yu Cheng, PhD, RN
Family and Community Health Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Nursing, Richmond, VA
Shwu-Ru Liou, PhD, RN
Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Institute of Technology at Chiayi Campus, Chiayi, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: 1. The learner will be able to understand the relationships between physical exhaustion, happiness, and maternal competence.

Learning Objective 2: 2. The learner will be able to plan individualized strategies to increase maternal happiness.

Being a mother was a happy life event whereas physical exhaustion was one of the frequently experienced postpartum physical conditions. How physical exhaustion, happiness, and maternal competence related was not studied. The purposes of this secondary analysis were to examine (a) relationships between physical exhaustion, happiness, and maternal competence of Chinese postpartum mother in the U.S. and Taiwan, and (b) differences of those relationships between Chinese mothers in U.S. and Taiwan. The original study included a pilot study testing reliability and validity of questionnaires and two main studies on 151 and 248 Chinese mothers within one year postpartum in the U.S. and Taiwan, respectively. The majority of mothers in the U.S. were first generation. Most mothers were primiparous, delivered vaginally, and received cultural postpartum care. More mothers in the U.S. were homemakers, were older, and had higher educational levels than Taiwanese mothers. Happiness, maternal competence, and physical exhaustion were measured and analyzed with four positive items in the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, the Parenting Sense of Competence scale, and a question about postpartum physical conditions. Overall, Chinese mothers were not too happy, did not perceive high maternal competence, and 34.7% of mothers experienced physical exhaustion. Mothers in the U.S. were happier, perceived higher competence than Taiwanese mothers. Happiness was positively correlated with maternal competence whereas physical exhaustion was negatively correlated with happiness for Chinese mothers in both U.S. and Taiwan. The relationship between happiness and maternal competence was stronger for the U.S. mothers than for Taiwanese mothers. Maternal competence and physical exhaustion could explain 20.3% and 13.7% of the variance of happiness for mothers in the U.S. and Taiwan, respectively. Environment influences mothers’ perception of competence and happiness. Strategies to help mothers to attain maternal role, increase confidence, and decrease fatigue may improve their quality of life.

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