Maternal expectations: do they match experience?

This qualitative research project aimed to explore maternal expectations toward motherhood and compare these to actual experience, in order to identify where expectations were not being met and inform the improvement of services. The project involved two focus groups involving a midwife, health visitors, a community psychiatric nurse and a nursery nurse, and individual semistructured interviews with 11 first-time mothers. Questions were asked about antenatal and postnatal services and about maternal expectations. The findings indicated that there were some areas for which parents did not feel well prepared and where care could be more focused. The needs that were identified included earlier antenatal classes with greater involvement from fathers and health visitors, opportunities to debrief about labour, more information on practical, emotional and relationship changes, and more opportunities for mothers to support each other.