Early postpartum concerns of mothers in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

This study was designed to assess Tanzanian women's perceptions of their concerns during the early postpartum period and explore the relationship of these concerns to parity, experience with child care, age, marital status, religion and tribe. The Lazarus and Folkman (1984) stress, appraisal, and coping framework guided the study. A convenience sample of 100 mothers with uncomplicated vaginal deliveries were selected from Dar-Es- Salaam. By means of a card-sort, mothers sorted items as "worries", "interests", "confidences", or "not applicable". Hotelling's multivariate test, followed by univariate F-tests and Bonferroni correction determined that primiparas had significantly more worries and interests than multiparas, and that multiparas had significantly mor e confidences than primiparas. Two-sample ~-tests showed that the two groups of mothers did not differ in their level of worry and interest, but multiparas' level of confidence was significantly higher than that of primiparas. Spearman rank order correlations showed that age categories were negatively correlated with the number of worries and positively correlated with the number of confidences. Pearson correlation coefficients showed that parity was negatively correlated with the number of worries and positively correlated with the number of confidences. However, parity and the age of the mother were not independent of each other because 64% of the primiparas were below 20 years and only one multipara was below 20 years of age. Child-care experience score was negatively correlated with the number of worries and marginally correlated with the number of interests and positively correlated with the number of confidences. Regression of age, parity, and experience with child care score on the number of worries, interests, and confidences showed that experience with child care explained most of the variations in worries and confidences. The findings indicate the need for postpartum follow-up care to assist mothers in reducing the number of worries and in increasing their confidence in dealing with postpartum concerns. Recommendations suggest the development of postpartum intervention programmes such as in-hospital teaching and community-based assessment, guidance, and support.