Abstract
The purposes of this study were to develop a mental health scale for use in assessing mental health in postnatal women (MHPW), and to determine the relation between the score and related factors. A quantitative approach was used.
The study population comprised 301 women who delivered live-born babies, and who consented to cooperate in the study at 2 weeks to 5 months after delivery. The originally developed MHPW was confirmed as to internal consistency and concurrence.Without the factors of unwanted pregnancy, there were correlations between MHPW score and daily life stress after birth, positive perception of birth experience, difficulty in caring for the baby, past history of psychiatric disease, and negative life events. ANOVA showed significant difference in MHPW scores between primipara and multipara, except vaginal delivery and cesarean birth, whether participate to mother's class.
These results suggest that nursing care to reinforce positive perceptions about the birth experience and reduce life stress may promote women's mental health.
