Heading toward the new normal: a contemporary postpartum experience.
OBJECTIVE
To describe contemporary women's postpartum experience. Previous descriptions, especially Rubin's taking-in and taking-hold, may no longer apply in this era of 24- to 48-hour hospital stays.


METHODS
Qualitative descriptive, using grounded theory methodology. Participants were interviewed about their postpartum experiences. Constant comparative analysis of the interview transcripts was concurrent with data collection.


METHODS
Interviews were conducted in participants' homes during the 1st week after childbirth and again 1 to 2 weeks later.


METHODS
Thirty-two first-time mothers, who vaginally delivered a full-term infant, were recruited through childbirth education classes.


RESULTS
The major theme that emerged was Heading toward the new normal, a process through which the participants began to reorient their lives as mothers. The supporting categories were Appreciating the body, Settling in, and Establishing a new family.


CONCLUSIONS
The participants' postpartum psychosocial development was a continuous process without discrete stages and phases. This finding differs from Rubin's puerperal change theory. With this new theoretical description, nurses can develop more effective care for contemporary child-bearing women.
Martell
L K
LK
University of Washington, School of Nursing, Seattle, USA. martell@u.washington.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D020073:Gravidity; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009773:Obstetric Nursing; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy