The Predictors of Health Status of Premature Infants' Mothers

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to explore premature infants’ mothers’ postpartum stress, depression, social support, and health status as well as the predictors of these mothers’ health status.

Methods:

The Hung Postpartum Stress Scale, Social Support Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, and Chinese Health Questionnaire were used to assess premature infants’ mothers’ psychosocial features during the six weeks postpartum. With purposive sampling, a total of 203 premature infants’ mothers were recruited from two medical centers and four community teaching hospitals in southern Taiwan. Data were analyzed with Chi-square, independent sample t-test, and logistic regression.

Results:

The important predictors of premature infants’ mothers’ health status were their “age,” “education,” “postpartum stress,” and “depression level.” Premature infants’ mothers’ unhealthy health status increased by 1.16 times for every one more year of age. The mothers with junior college diploma or above were 2.19 times more likely to have unhealthy health status than the mothers with senior high diploma or below. The mothers with an increase of one postpartum stress score were more likely to increase 1.02 times to have unhealthy health status. The mothers with mild or severe depression were more likely to increase 7.07 times to have unhealthy health status than those who did not suffer from depression.

Conclusion:

The concerns and needs of premature infants’ mothers were different from those of full term mothers during the first six weeks postpartum, and premature infants’ health status was found to be the major stressor perceived by their mothers. Besides age and education level, premature infants’ mothers’ postpartum stress and depression level could predict their health status.

Future studies can explore those women’s postpartum stress, social support, depression, and health status at each postpartum week, which can serve as a reference for nursing interventions.