1College of Nursing, Ewha Womans University 2Department of Nursing, Hallym University
Abstract
The quality of mother-infant interaction during early postpartum period has a significant influence on the child growth and development in many aspects. The mother's initial perception of the newborns might have the lasting influence on the development of the mother-infant attachment and mother-infant relationship. Therefore the proper mother-infant interaction should be developed after infant birth. However, it is acknowledged that the high risk infants influence on the mothers' perception because of their abnormalities or disorders of physical condition and the restricted maternal contacts and interactions. The object of this study is to identify the difference of mother's perception of their normal and high-risk newborn during the early postpartum period. The ultimate goal is to contribute to use this basic data to develop nursing intervention toward the promotion of healthy mother-infant relationship and the helping of growth and development of children. The data were collected for this study from Sep. 21, 1990 to Oct. 1. 1991 at E University Hospital. The sample was 83 of mothers who had normal newborns and 73 mothers who had high risk newborns .The instrument was Neonatal Perception Inventory(NPI) designed by the Broussard for the measurement of mothers' perception of newborns about Average Baby and Your Baby. The data were analysed by using an SPSS Program and include percentage mean, SD, t-test, ANOVA. The results of this study are as follows : 1. The normal newborn mothers' perception is more positive than the high-risk newborn mothers(t=7.94, p=0.000). 2. Mothers' perception of the newborns is not related significantly to mothers' general characteristics. In conclusion, in order to promote positive, healthy mother-infant relationship, the nurse need to support, give information, and educate high-risk newborn mothers through early nursing assessment.
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