Abstract
Purpose
Mothers soon after childbirth are recovering physically and also taking on multiple roles. However, their physical health has been relatively neglected both in research and practice. This article describes the general health status of mothers in early parenthood, degree of their perceived achievement of desired childrearing, and related factors.
Method
Participants were 500 women 6 to 11 months postpartum, selected by a random sampling of mothers from the Basic Resident Register, and resident in a ward in an ordinance-designated city. A questionnaire conducted by postal mail was composed of 26 items on topics such as physical symptoms, degree of accumulated fatigue, Short Form 8 Health Survey (SF-8) within the previous month, and sleep quality. The questionnaire culminated in the question "Do you think you have achieved your desired childrearing so far?"
Results
Respondents to the questionnaire were 274 mothers (response rate, 54.8%). Almost all mothers had experienced one or more physical symptoms, with a mean 4.5 (SD 2.8) symptoms per mother. All SF-8 scores fell below 50. Mothers reported a mean 6.4 (SD 1.3) hours of sleep and 2.7 (SD 1.4) interruptions per night. Perception of better recovery from exhaustion by sleeping was correlated with achievement of desired childrearing (p<0.01). Almost half of the mothers (n = 156, 56.9%) responded that they had achieved their desired childrearing. Three factors associated with such achievement were: "reasonably enough" (odds ratio 4.7, 95% confidence interval 1.88-11.58) or "enough" (6.9, 1.65-28.97) perceived recovery from exhaustion by sleeping; being over 40 years of age (6.1, 1.14-32.60); and living with the child's grandparent(s) (3.4, 1.06-11.09).
Conclusions
Mothers self-rated their health as poor. The factors associated with achieving their desired childrearing in early parenthood were having enough sleep to recover from exhaustion, being over 40 years of age, and living with the child's grandparent (s).
