Stress, social support, and self-esteem in rural and urban postpartum women
Date
2003
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Studies of the relationships among postpartum women's health status, stress,
social support, and self-esteem are limited, particularly in the area of rural postpartum
women's health. In 2001, a prospective cohort study was conducted in Saskatoon,
Canada to determine the relationship between postpartum length of hospital stay and
maternal and infant health outcomes with 150 early (less than 48 hours postpartum)
and late discharge (greater than 48 hours) postpartum women. For this thesis, a
secondary analysis was undertaken to assess the relationships among stress, social
support, and self-esteem and to determine predictors of stress at four months
postpartum between rural and urban postpartum women who participated in the study
in the immediate postpartum and at four months postpartum. The sample used in this
secondary analysis (N = 101) consisted of 63 urban and 38 rural participants. The
Prenatal Psychosocial Profile (PPP) instrument was used to measure levels of social
support and self-esteem in the immediate postpartum period and stressors/hassles at
birth and four months postpartum, using rating subscales. Rural and urban groups did
not differ significantly in their total mean score differences from the first interview to
the four-month interview. At four months postpartum, both rural and urban groups
experienced higher stress due to money worries and feeling generally overloaded
compared to the time of the first interview (p < 0.05). Rural and urban groups
experienced moderate to high satisfaction with social support in the immediate
postpartum, although the rural group had lower satisfaction scores with the scale items
"goes out of his/her way to do special or thoughtful things" and "tolerates my ups and
downs and unusual behaviours" (p < 0.05). Self-esteem scores did not differ between groups. The best predictors of maternal stress at four months postpartum were age,
marital status, income, and ethnicity. Older single, Aboriginal single, and higher
income single women were more likely to report stress (p < 0.05). The findings
indicate the need to target these women, in both rural and. urban populations, for
psychosocial support in the postpartum period.
Description
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Citation
Degree
Master of Nursing (M.N.)
Department
College of Nursing
Program
College of Nursing