Self-perception levels of mothers dealing with infant care problems for babies 0-12 months old

Babies need the presence of an adult, especially their mothers, from the moment they are born in order to have their needs fulfilled. The significance of the care, particularly during the newborn and the babyhood period, increases gradually as the children grow older. The adequate and efficient fulfillment of needs during the newborn and babyhood period are fundamental in terms of child development. On the other hand, many mothers don't know what to do about problematic situations related to infant care that they might encounter when they have a newborn baby.

The self-perception of 864 mothers, in various educational level groups, with 432 male and 432 female babies, was analyzed in regards to dealing with problems that arise related to infant care. A questionnaire, developed by Pridham and Chang (1991), was filled out during interviews with the mothers. The analyses of the data obtained as the result of the study were evaluated with the Kruskal-Wallis test while the statistically significant findings were dually compared using the Mann-Whitney test.

At the conclusion of the study it was determined that the gender of the baby did not effect the mother's self-perception during problem solving, whereas their educational levels created remarkable differences amongst their responses.