Expectations of post-partum care among pregnant women living in the north of Sweden

Abstract

Objectives. To describe expectations of post-partum care among pregnant women living in the north of Sweden and whether personality determines preference for care systems. The time for post-partum care on maternity wards has been reduced in Western countries. This, along with the reduction in special medical treatments offered and the closure of small hospitals has affected pregnant women and their families. Study Design. Data was extracted from a questionnaire and a personality instrument (SSP) that were completed during November 2002. Methods. In the northernmost county of Sweden, 140 pregnant women completed the questionnaire; of these, 120 completed the SSP instrument. Results. Of the women who participated, 61.3% wanted to be discharged 72 hours after childbirth, irrespective of the distance between the hospital and home. To have access to maternity ward staff and the decision to be discharged were described as being the most important issues in maternity ward care. The infant's father was expected to be the most important person in the post-partum period. Conclusions. Women ranked the opportunity to decide for themselves when to be discharged from the maternity ward as important, which can be interpreted as a strong signal that the women want to be in control of the care they receive. Midwives have to focus more on the woman and her family's individual needs, and to include the father as a person who also needs support and to provide resources for him. (Int J Circumpolar Health 2008; 67(5):472-483)

Parents' experiences and perceptions of group-based antenatal care in four clinics in Sweden

“…That study reported, however, on experiences with individual care. The results in the present study could also be discussed in light of the results of another previously published Swedish study that focused on mothers' perceptions of postpartum care; participants identified that one of the most important people in postpartum care was the father of the baby, rather than the midwife (Lindberg et al, 2008).…”

Parents’ experiences of midwifery students providing continuity of care

“…The support of the woman is based on the father's knowledge of her needs. His support is valuable for the woman and the well-being of the new family (Lindberg et al, 2008;Premberg et al, in press). …”

“…First-time mothers have expectations about continued contact with the maternity ward staff, i.e. a home visit and telephone contact (Lindberg et al, 2008). A home visit by a midwife is not a standard practice in maternity care in Norway, even though women are discharged from the hospital only a few days after the birth.…”

Postpartum Care: Evaluation and Experience Among Care Providers and Care Receivers

“…There has been little research to assess the experience of quality and satisfaction with the considerably altered postpartum hospital care during the last 20 years 6,10–13 . In searching the PubMed database with different combinations of the keywords “maternity ward,”“satisfaction,”“postpartum,” and “hospitalization,” we found 9 relevant studies addressing the postpartum stay in maternity wards and exploring the quality of the care and mothers’ satisfaction, either as national or regional surveys or related to single hospital maternity wards 6,10 , 12–18 . Among these studies, only 1 was from the United States 16 .…”

“…6,[10][11][12][13] In searching the PubMed database with different combinations of the keywords "maternity ward," "satisfaction," "postpartum," and "hospitalization," we found 9 relevant studies addressing the postpartum stay in maternity wards and exploring the quality of the care and mothers' satisfaction, either as national or regional surveys or related to single hospital maternity wards. 6,10,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Among these studies, only 1 was from the United States. 16 The national surveys that address the quality of postpartum hospital care are mainly from Australia or Sweden.…”