2006 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 59-67
Aims: The purpose of this study was to propose a policy to support mothers having childcare anxiety.
Methods: A survey was conducted of mothers in an urban area with a child under one year old in a nuclear family. The sample was taken from the customer's list of a nursing products company and the data was collected by mail. Firts, we selected the mothers of the high anxiety group by using the questionnaire of MAKINO which was based on the factors and symptoms of accumulated exhaustion related to child care, and then analyzed the mothers' needs to reduce the anxiety by K-J methods.
Results and Conclusions: The mothers in the high anxiety group mostly needed to set themselves free from a childcare environment in which they felt physically and emotionally restricted. To support the mothers, the first thing to be done was that health care professionals should change their attitude on home visit to check on newborns and regular checking on infants from focusing only on the health problems of babies to focusing on both the babies' health problems and the mothers having childcare anxiety.
It was very important that professionals, then figured out that the mothers wanted to liberate themselves from such anxiety and that they understood their needs.
Finally, we had to design a policy which would create the environment to provide for the interaction of the mothers with each other, or mothers and other people as main means to support the mothers.
We also had to prepare facilities for the mothers, especially those who have difficulty in making relationships with others, where the mothers could easily leave their children and take time to go out.
