Childbirth experience, maternal functioning and mental health: how are they related?

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Childbirth experience is shaped by the labor and delivery process. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between childbirth experience, subsequent postpartum maternal functioning and mental health.

Methods

A total of 483 mothers in the first 4–16 weeks postpartum participated in this cross-sectional study. The cluster random sampling method was used to select the participants. The Questionnaire for Assessing the Childbirth Experience, Mental Health Inventory, and the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning were completed through interviews.

Results

The mean childbirth experience, mental health, and maternal functioning scores were 1.6 (0.4), 79.1 (15.0), and 97.4 (13.0), respectively. There was a significant correlation between the total mental health and maternal functioning scores and all its subscales with childbirth experience scores (P<0.001). Results from the general linear model pointed to a significant correlation between maternal functioning and childbirth experience (P<0.001), as well as between receiving support for infant care (P<0.001) and family income adequacy (P=0.006). Mental health was also significantly correlated with childbirth experience (P<0.001), complete life satisfaction (P<0.001), and receiving support for infant care (P=0.025).

Conclusion

Supportive care provision services may improve mothers’ birth experiences, which leads to enhanced postpartum maternal functioning and mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Birth experience
• maternal functioning
• mental health

Acknowledgments

We hereby wish to thank Tabriz University of Medical Sciences to support this research, all participants in this study and personnel at the healthcare centers in Tabriz for their sincere cooperation in sampling.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

The study received ethical approval from the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (ethical code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1397.147). The authors assert that the study complies with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 and no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and only participants received counseling.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.