Perceived Social Support and Maternal Competence in Primipara Women during Pregnancy and After Childbirth.
Sara Esmaelzadeh Saeieh, Mitra Rahimzadeh, Mansooreh Yazdkhasti and 1 others
PMID 29043286WHAT IT FOUND
First-time mothers' competence scores fell from pregnancy to 16 weeks after birth.
Perceived social support did not change over that time, and higher support was linked to higher competence at 6 and 16 weeks postpartum.
Key findings
01Maternal competence scores decreased from pregnancy through sixteen weeks after childbirth, with no difference between six and sixteen weeks.
02Perceived social support did not change significantly from pregnancy through sixteen weeks after childbirth.
03Perceived social support was significantly related to maternal competence at six and sixteen weeks after childbirth.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The authors state the sample size was small and generalisation may be limited because participants were only Iranian first-time mothers with a single normal pregnancy and no psychiatric history. The study used convenience sampling from two health centres, so the women may not represent other settings. The study excluded mothers with postpartum depression at six weeks, so it does not describe mothers with that condition. The paper reports associations over time but does not test whether social support causes higher maternal competence. The paper does not report how many of the 100 allocated were followed at each time point.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social support will raise maternal competence. The study observed associations and did not test a support intervention. Social support scores did not change clearly over time.