Evaluation of the effect of a nurse navigation program developed for postpartum mothers on maternal health: A...

This study aimed to determine the effects of a nurse navigation program on the capability for self-care, quality of life, risk of anxiety and depression, and severity of the physical symptoms of postpartum mothers.

This prospective, parallel-group, randomized controlled study included 64 primiparous pregnant women (32 women each in the intervention and control groups) at ≥36 gestational weeks admitted to the pregnancy outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Turkey. The intervention group received navigation program-based nursing care comprising three home visits, four phone calls, and five text messages aside from the standard hospital care during delivery and the postpartum period. Meanwhile, the control group received only the standard hospital care during delivery and the postpartum period. Data were collected using a sociodemographic data form, the Self-Care Power Scale, the Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life Instrument (MPQoL-I), the Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale (PSAS), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Postpartum Physical Symptom Severity Scale.

Mean scores for the capability for self-care and quality of life were higher, while those for the risk of depression and anxiety were lower for the intervention group than the control group (p < .05).

Navigation program-based care provided to primiparous mothers improved maternal health.