"Extended-care of midwife in giving infants a massage on Puerperium Depertment of Strakonice Hospital and infants at home."

In my thesis, I focused at providing massages to neonates at the Puerperium Department of Nemocnice Strakonice, a.s., and to infants at home. My intention was to acquaint mothers with massages during the first days after birth and to teach them the massage technique. The knowledge gained can be used to improve care for children in domestic environment. The thesis used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. The data collection made use of an anonymous survey, an electronic survey and non-standardized interviews. Six objectives were defined. Objective 1: To survey whether the received information is profitable for mothers. Objective 2: To survey whether mothers are interested in giving a massage to their infants in the post partum. Objective 3: To map the expected benefits of physiological massages for infants as viewed by their mothers. Objective 4: To map mothers? interest in continuing child massages at home. Objective 5: To map the real benefits of child massage in home environment as viewed by the mothers. Objective 6: To teach mothers massage procedures. All the objectives were met. On the basis of the objectives, five hypotheses (H) and two research questions (VO) were identified. H1: The received information is profitable for the mothers, the hypothesis was vindicated, 96 % of the mothers found the received information profitable. H2: Mothers are interested in giving a massage in the postpartum ward, the hypothesis was not vindicated, 11 % of the mothers were interested in massaging their infants while hospitalized. H3: From the mothers?? point of view, the most estimated benefit of massaging their physiological new-borns was evoking relaxation and comfort, the hypothesis was vindicated, 94 % of the mothers mentioned that the most estimated benefit is evoking relaxation and comfort of their infants. H4: Mothers are also interested in performing massages at home; the hypothesis was confirmed ? 54 % of the mothers perform massages at home. H5: As viewed by the mothers, the biggest benefit of child massages at home is to induce relaxation and well-being; the hypothesis was confirmed ? 84 % of the mothers said the biggest benefit of child massages at home achieved was to induce relaxation and well being of their children. VO1: How do mothers perform child massages at home? Mothers who give massages to their babies at home mostly comply with proper procedure and technique of massages. Hypothesis 1 was defined for the research question: The demonstration of massage procedure to mothers in the maternity hospital was sufficient for proper massages performed at home. VO2: What are the benefits of massage as viewed by the mothers? The mother sees the benefits of massages mainly for their children to whom massages bring positive effects both physically and mentally. This is a great benefit for the mothers themselves. Hypothesis 2 was defined for the research question: The mothers are happy to get acquainted with new developments in the care of their children if they can see positive results in the satisfaction of their children. Findings from the research could be used to improve care for neonates not only at the Puerperium Department of Nemocnice Strakonice, a.s. but also in other health facilities where the clients come first and where the staff is willing to introduce any changes to the existing care. The results of the research could also attract considerable attention of private midwives who come into contact with mothers during pregnancy and give them the first and sometimes the most important information in the care of the baby