Prediction Model on Mother-infant Attachment during the Early Postpartum Period / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the influencing factors of mother-infant attachment and construct a descriptive model that explains mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period. METHOD: The hypothetical model of this study consisted of 8 variables with 23 constructed paths. The subjects of this study were 152 postpartum women. Data was analyzed to test the hypothetical model using covariance structure analysis. RESULT: The final model which is modified from the hypothetical model improved to Chi-Square 41.92, GFI .95, AGFI .89, RMSR .02, RMSEA .06, NFI .94, and NNFI .95. Mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period was proven to be influenced directly by neonatal perception, maternal sensitivity, and maternal-fetal attachment and also indirectly by social support, maternal-fetal attachment and maternal identity. These variables accounted for 32% of the variance of the mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period. CONCLUSION: It is necessary that the nurses provide postpartum women with an intervention using social support for improving maternal identity and alleviating maternal role strain. It can be helpful to improve maternal sensitivity and in the end it will facilitate the mother-infant attachment during postpartum period.

Sexuality and Related Factors of Postmenopausal Korean Women / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This cross-sectional survey was conducted to describe the sexuality of Korean women after menopause using a national sample, and to examine relationships between the sexuality and demographic, body mass index, and life style factors including smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity. METHOD: From Dec. 20, 1998 to April 30, 1999, 2196 naturally postmenopausal women aged between 41 and 65 years were recruited by a disproportional stratified random sampling method from 7 metropolitans and 6 provinces in Korea. The questionnaire was used to obtain information on the demographic characteristics, life style factors, body mass index, and sexual activities. RESULT: The findings show that the frequency of intercourse after menopause decreased among most of postmenopausal Korean women (64.5%). The frequency of women reported their sexual activity as satisfactory was higher among women doing physical activity, not smoking, with higher educational status, with middle socioeconomic status, without sleep disturbance, with lower body mass index, and with good subjective health status. CONCLUSION: Further studies need to be designed as the longitudinal studies with larger random samples and better measures of sexuality.

The Age at Menopause and Related Factors in Korean Women / 간호학회지

This cross-sectional design was to identify the age at menopause of Korean women using a national sample, and to examine relationships between age at menopause and the anthropometric, sociodemographic, biological and life style behavioral factors. Two thousand eight hundred seven naturally postmenopausal women aged between 41-65 years were recruited by self-selection from 7 metropolitans and 6 provinces in Korea from Dec. 20, 1998 to April 30, 1999. The age at menopause of Korean women was 49.2 years (mean) and 50.0 years (median). The range of age at menopause was 33.0 to 61.0 years. The significant influencing factors on age at menopause were body mass index, mother's and sister's age at menopause, alcohol use, physical activity, coffee preference, and residential area. The menopausal age of Korean women has slightly increased compared to a previous study.