The Effect of a Postpartum Nursing Intervention Program for Immigrant Mothers

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to develop a postpartum nursing intervention program for immigrant women and evaluate the effects on postpartum depression, child rearing confidence, home environment, and infant temperament. METHODS: This research was a non-equivalent control group pre-test and post-test design. Participants were pregnant immigrant women from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines residing in Kyunggi province and Seoul. Twenty women were assigned to the intervention group, and 19 women to the control group. For the intervention group, the women were visited at home and provided emotional support and parenting education for three months. To analyze the intervention effects, repeated measure ANOVA and t-test were used. RESULTS: Child rearing confidence was higher in the experimental group than the control group at interaction effect of time and group, six weeks and three months postpartum. However, there were no significant effects for maternal depression, infant temperament, and husband support. Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) score in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group at three month postpartum. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that the nursing intervention program had positive effects and can be used to further the health status of immigrant mothers and children.