The Effect of Online Infant Care Education and Postpartum Counseling Based on Meleis's Transition Theory on Mothers' Self-Esteem and Infant Health: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Fatma Şule Bilgiç, Gülçin Bozkurt
PMID 39900549WHAT IT FOUND
First-time mothers who received online baby-care training before birth and weekly support for three months had higher parenting confidence, more exclusive breastfeeding, fewer gas, rash, thrush and congestion problems, and lower hospital admission rates in the first and third months than mothers receiving routine care.
Key findings
01Mothers in the intervention group had higher parenting self-confidence scores than control mothers at the first, second, and third months.
02Exclusive breastfeeding was more common in the intervention group at the first, second, and third months.
03The intervention group had fewer hospital admissions in the first and third months and higher routine monitoring participation in the second and third months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Single-centre study in a low-socioeconomic area of Istanbul, so results may not transfer to other settings or populations. Participants were first-time mothers with healthy term babies; mothers with communication problems, chronic disease, breastfeeding problems, or infants with growth restriction or genetic disease were excluded. Randomization was simple and by drawing lots, and no blinding of participants or outcome assessors is described. The self-confidence outcome was self-reported, and the baby follow-up form was developed by the researchers rather than being an established validated instrument. The paper states self-confidence scores were significantly higher at all time points, but the reported means show control scores higher at pregnancy and the first 24 hours after birth. The intervention combined two online sessions with weekly contact and counseling, and the control group received routine care plus PDFs via WhatsApp, so the effect of any single component cannot be separated. Many infant health outcomes were tested across three time points, and some reported differences, including fever, vomiting, and month 2 hospitalization, were not significant.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that online training alone improved infant health. The intervention combined two prenatal online sessions with weekly contact and counseling, while both groups received routine hospital care and the control group received PDF content via WhatsApp, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The self-confidence means were not higher in the intervention group at pregnancy or the first 24 hours after birth.