Title : The perceived health needs of primiparous mothers referring to primary health care centers
Abstract:
Background: Since the first step in meeting the health needs and requirements of primiparous women involves understanding and analyzing their conditions and needs, the present study was designed to investigate the health needs of primiparous women from their own viewpoints.
Methods: This study had a qualitative approach based on the conventional qualitative content analysis method. The purposive sampling method was used. Data were collected by unstructured interviews, as a result of which data saturation was achieved by interviewing 12 participants. Ongoing data analysis was performed concurrently with the data collection. To ensure the study was rigorous, the four criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were taken into account.
Results: The findings of the study consisted of 150 codes and 6 pivotal categories, including the intense need for social support (i.e. the need to be the center of attention and receive support from one’s family, fear of being left alone or abandoned, and the need to receive care from healthcare workers), the need for prior preparation for pregnancy (psychological preparation, financial/economic preparation, and physical preparation before pregnancy), fears and worries (concerns for the health of the fetus, worries and attempts to adjust to the mothering role, and fear of vaginal delivery), the necessity of the availability of the needed infrastructures and requirements in the health center (the presence of a counseling psychologist, the presence of a nutritional consultant, the necessity of having a close and warm relationship with healthcare workers, the appropriateness of the education received by pregnant women, the need for adequate and appropriate physical space development, the availability environments and spaces that allow for privacy), falling in love with the baby (disregarding trivial issues, embracing the baby, and having feelings of attachment and love towards the fetus), and seeking information from appropriate sources (being interested in attending educational classes, and searching on the Internet).
Conclusion: The present study showed that primiparous women need to receive more social and psychological support from family members and healthcare workers and that it is essential to improve the available infrastructures and services in healthcare centers and to provide the needed counseling to pregnant mothers to enable them to go through the pregnancy period smoothly.
Audience Take Away:
- The first step in meeting the health needs of primiparous women is to investigate and comprehend their conditions and needs
- The feeling of anxiety and uncertainty brought about by the lack of proper fulfilment of the need for information caused them to seek this information themselves
- Healthcare workers should manage and meet the mothers' needs for accurate information.
- Primiparous women need more social and psychological support from family members and health care workers due to lack of experience
- Some women experience ambivalent feelings during pregnancy, whereas some other women are afflicted by genuine mental distress
