Effects of A Preparation Program for Mothers during the Transition on Infant Care Behaviors and Preterm Infants's Body Weight

Abstract

     Mothers of premature infants often feel unprepared, anxious, and less confident in caring for their babies during the transition from hospital to home. It can lead to less-than-optimal infant care behaviors and low infant body weight. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to examine the effects of a hospital-to-home maternal preparation program on infant care behaviors and body weight of preterm infants. The sample was 30 primigravida mothers and their preterm infants in the Thammasat University Hospital. The sample was divided equally into experimental and control groups. The control group received routine care in the hospital. The experimental group received, in addition, the transition preparation program 1 week before discharge in eight 30-45 minute sessions. The instrument was the maternal transition preparation program and maternal behaviour in caring preterm infant questionnaire. The content validity index was .88; Cronbachs’s alpha was .89. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
Post-test results for maternal caring of premature infant behaviors revealed that the experimental group mean score was significantly higher the control group’s (p < .001). However, for body weight, the mean scores in the experimental and control groups were not significantly different (p>.05).
The findings indicate that the maternal transition preparation program for premature infants made a positive, significant difference, although it had no significant impact on infant body weight. Nurses and health care professionals should use the maternal transition preparation program for mothers of preterm infants while the infants are in the neonatal unit.