Support desired by mothers following postpartum hospital discharge

<The recent trend toward a shorter hospitalization period after childbirth has led to concerns regarding insufficient nursing care for mothers and infants. Support following hospital discharge is thus likely to become increasingly important. The present study surveyed mothers with infants less than 4 months old, asking them to rank their preferences regarding support following hospital discharge. Responses were obtained from 516 mothers(258 primiparas and 258 multiparas), and the following four points were clarified.1)“Format< and “content< were identified as the important aspects of support following hospital discharge.2)Preferred support formats comprised “outpatient examination< followed by “visiting nursing by midwives< and then “postpartum support center<.3)Preferred support content comprised “guidance regarding lifestyle changes, infant care, and feeding< followed by “maternal physical rest and recuperation< and then “newborn observation and care<, while “maternal physical rest and recuperation< was prioritized by multiparas.4)A possible system combining preferred support style and content was proposed as follows: “One outpatient obstetrics examination occurring within 2 weeks of hospital discharge costing between 5,000 and 10,000 yen and focusing on guidance regarding lifestyle changes, infant care, and feeding for primiparas and maternal physical rest and recuperation for multiparas<.Providing staged and integrated support format is desirable to assist mothers in enthusiastically engaging in infant care. Further investigation is required to develop a support system from which mothers can continuously benefit and that provides unbroken support from the point of hospital discharge.