[Nursing support at a rooming-in maternity ward]

The international congress called "Birth Quality-Life Quality" has been a key scientific event in Poland resulting in great changes in perinatal care. Improvements in the quality of care at maternity wards were not limited to purely medical issues. Attention became increasingly focused on psycho-social problems of women after parturition. Emphasis is now directed to support by the doctors and nurses and efforts to acquaint young mothers with the benefits of natural feeding, as well as to prepare them for taking good care of their child. Social support is seen as an important tool in the improvement of care over the mother and child. The present study has classified social support according to J. House as informational, emotional, instrumental and worthing. Informational support consists of methods to cope with specific problems that require delivery of information and teaching of new skills. Emotional support focuses on demonstrating care, winning trust and showing empathy. Instrumental support is reflected by delivery of goods or services to persons in need. Finally, worthing support aims at promoting self-esteem. The aim of this study was (1) to analyze the determinants of informational, emotional, instrumental and worthing support and to compare the needs for different types of support among primiparas and multiparas at an obstetrics ward with the rooming-in system; (2) to study correlations between availability and demand for social support; (3) to determine the expectations of patients as to sources of informational, emotional, instrumental and worthing support and as to methods and means used during delivery of informational support. The study was done in a group of 200 women giving birth at the Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin. A special questionnaire was developed to determine the needs for support. A modified Social Support Score was also used. It was found that the demand for all determinants of informational support was greater among primiparas than multiparas. In the lactation part, significant differences were noted for 25 determinants (Tab. 1). Similarly, significant differences were noted for 13 determinants of neonatal care and nursing (Tab. 2) and for 9 determinants of postpartum self-care (Tab. 3). A large demand for most determinants of emotional support was noted in the study and reference groups. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were revealed as to 3 determinants representing feeling of safety by the woman during hospitalization (Tab. 4). It was found that the demand for all determinants of instrumental support was greater among primiparas than multiparas (Tab. 5). There were no significant differences in worthing support needs (Tab. 6). Primiparas significantly more often expected informational and instrumental (p < 0.001), as well as emotional support (p < 0.05) (Tab. 7) in comparison to multiparas. The need for social support at a maternity ward was found to be independent of the available support (Tab. 8). The most frequently expected source of informational support is the nurse/midwife at the maternity ward, as well as the doctor at the ward and the outpatient unit. Worthing and instrumental support is usually expected of the husband and the family. The usual methods of delivering support include discussions, training, and demonstration. Brochures remain the preferred vehicle for delivering support (Tab. 9).