The Effects of Natural Childbirth Care on Postpartum Perineal Pain and Maternal-Infant Attachment for the Primiparous Postpartum Women

Abstract

             This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the postpartum perineal pain and maternal-infant attachment between the mothers who had natural childbirth care and those who had routine childbirth care. The participants were 80 primiparous postpartum women. They were assigned into 2 groups by simple randomization, 40 natural childbirth care group (experimental group ) and 40 routine childbirth care group (control group ).  The visual analogue scale was used to measure postpartum perineal pain at 4, 24, and 48 hours postpartum. The maternal-infant attachment questionnaire was used to measure maternal-infant attachment between 24-48 hours postpartum. The maternal-infant attachment questionnaire had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient .80. The data analysis used independent t-test for difference for postpartum perineal pain of mothers between groups at 4, 24, and 48 hours postpartum and mother-infant attachment between groups during 24-48 hours.

          The results showed that among 3 times postpartum (4^th hour, 24^th hour, and 48^th  hour ) the perineal pain in the experimental group was lower than those in the control group significantly (p <0.001). However, there was no different in mother-infant attachment when comparing between groups at 24 and 48 hours.

          The results of this study indicate that it is better to use the natural childbirth care for the women rather than routine childbirth care in order to lessen postpartum perineal pain. This will enhance the quality of nursing care.