Professional support and emergency visits during the first 2 weeks postpartum

Area of Science:

• Maternal Health
• Postpartum Care
• Healthcare Services Research

Background:

• Postpartum care is crucial for maternal and infant well-being.
• Continuity and quality of professional support significantly impact mothers' experiences.
• Understanding factors influencing satisfaction and emergency care seeking is vital for improving services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate mothers' satisfaction with professional support in the initial two weeks postpartum.
• To determine the frequency of emergency care utilization by mothers during the same period.
• To identify factors associated with satisfaction and emergency care seeking.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 546 mothers in Stockholm County, Sweden.
• Data collected via questionnaires on perceived support, sense of coherence, and emergency visits.
• Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were employed.

Main Results:

• 53% of mothers found postpartum support sufficient or more than sufficient.
• 17.7% perceived support as insufficient, indicating potential care gaps.
• 17% of mothers sought emergency care for delivery, breastfeeding, or infant health issues.
• Poor perceived support, low sense of coherence, and delivery complications correlated with higher emergency visit rates.

Conclusions:

• Mothers facing delivery complications report lower satisfaction with professional support.
• These mothers also utilize hospital emergency departments more frequently.
• Findings suggest a need for improved continuity and targeted support in postpartum care.