The effects of a home-visiting discharge education on maternal self-esteem, maternal attachment, postpartum depression and family function in the mothers of NICU infants.
OBJECTIVE
A quasi-experimental study was performed to investigate the effects of a home visiting discharge education program on the maternal self-esteem, attachment, postpartum depression and family function in 35 mothers of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) infants.


METHODS
Twenty-three mothers in the intervention group received the home visiting discharge education while 12 mothers in the control group received the routine, hospital discharge education. Baseline data was collected in both groups one day after delivery. The intervention group received the home visiting discharge education while the control group did the routine hospital-based discharge education. The questionnaire including the data on maternal self-esteem, attachment, postpartum depression and family function were collected within 1 week after the discharge by mail.


RESULTS
The scores of maternal self-esteem, and attachment were significantly increased, and the postpartum depression and the family function score were decreased after the home visiting discharge education in intervention group. There were no changes in these variables before and after the routine hospital-based discharge education in control group.


CONCLUSIONS
These results support the beneficial effects of home visiting discharge education on the maternal role adaptation and family function of the mothers of NICU infants.
Ahn
Young-Mee
YM
Department of Nursing, College of Medicine Inha University, Incheon 402-751, Korea. aym@inha.ac.kr
Kim
Mi-Ran
MR
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare / Q000458:organization & administration; D001294:Attitude to Health; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires