The intervening effect of the What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised questionnaire on maternal affect

Abstract

The ‘What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised’ (WPL-R) is an instrument designed to measure adaptation to parenthood. In the process of pilot testing and validating the WPL-R in a postpartum Dutch population, we became aware of the potentially sensitive nature of the measure. Despite the ethics committee waiving the invasive nature of the measure, we conducted a survey to explore its possible effect on women’s thoughts and emotions by using the Positive And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to measure changes associated with completion of the WPL-R. Two hundred and fifteen questionnaires were returned. Our findings indicated a change in PANAS scores, implying an intervening effect when using the WPL-R, in research. This raises the question of whether it is acceptable to use a questionnaire with postpartum women without any knowledge of the possible effect it may have, even though the ethics committee has approved the study and considers the measure to be non-invasive.

Examining ways to score the Epidemic–Pandemic Impacts Inventory in parents of young children.

“…Interestingly, participants in the present study also endorsed high levels of PANAS-PA (M = 41). By comparison, Spanish university students reported lower PA before the pandemic (M = 33) and in March 2020 (M = 25;Mayor-Silva et al, 2022), adults reported lower PA in October 2020 (M = 34; Orfei et al, 2022), and 152 Dutch parents of new babies reported lower PA in April 2020 (M = 35;van Beeck et al, 2022). It is possible that parents with relatively high PA may have been particularly drawn to participate in this study, as it is a part of a larger randomized controlled trial examining app-based interventions rooted in positive psychology (i.e., gratitude and mindfulness).…”

The midwife's support during transition to motherhood: A modified Delphi study among care providers and childbearing women

“…Various conditions emerged for transitional support to be an integral part of the midwife's scope of practice. The findings suggest that this can only occur when the midwife can base support on both professional knowledge about the transitional process (education) and the experiential knowledge of the woman [5, 49]. The midwife also has to regard maternal emotional health as equally important as physical health [8, 53–55].…”

“…Becoming a mother involves attaining the maternal identity and role [1]. The overall expectation is that, at the end of the transition process, mothers have achieved a certain balance in their life and are able to navigate the new sense of self and the changes in social and intimate relationships [4][5][6]. Although many women advance through the transition process without major difficulties and adapt well to their new role and identity, feelings of insecurity, stress, anxiety, fears, and worries are reported during this period of transition [7,8].…”

“…Women want to be supported in managing and understanding the transition process, and in utilising active coping strategies to positively reframe and accept the changes and challenges associated with becoming and being a mother [10,11,19]. Women benefit from emotional, practical, and informational support [17], from being validated, appraised, and encouraged in the mothering role during the postpartum period, and from being invited to reflect on their mothering [5,8,20,21]. Amidst the various maternity care providers [8,22], women appoint the midwife as the most appropriate professional in maternity services to provide transitional support [23].…”

“…Recommendations highlight that transitional care should be based on an agreement between those who are regarded as experts of transition to motherhood -childbearing women with experiential knowledge and care providers with professional knowledge [5,8,29] -in defining how midwives should provide transitional support. This study aims to reach an agreement between women and care providers on what is required for midwives to support the maternal transition process for women to adapt to their maternal role and identity and attaining well-being and maternal life balance.…”