An instrument to assess the quality of maternal behavior.

Early assessment, detection, and therapeutic intervention in maladaptive maternal behavior can be facilitated by a simple nursing appraisal instrument employed initially on the third postpartum day. The Funke-Irby Interactional Assessment not only discriminates between early adaptive and maladaptive maternal behaviors, but it also illustrates a mother's progress or lack of progress toward adaptive mothering, making the instrument useful to the community health nurse during the early postdelivery weeks. This instrument has been effectively used as a screening device for nurses making decisions about the need for further referral for family therapy.