Ethnocultural predictors of postpartum infant-care behaviours among immigrants in Canada

To determine, among immigrants, what ethnocultural variables predict postpartum infant-care behaviours over and above other maternal and infant characteristics.

We recruited a cohort of immigrant women on hospital postpartum units. Data on predictor variables were collected during face-to-face interviews in the early postpartum period. Follow-up telephone interviews occurred at 3 months postpartum to assess infant-care behaviours. We identified 411 women meeting our eligibility criteria, of these 77.3% agreed to participate and 94% received follow-up interviews.

In the first stage of a multiple linear regression analysis, maternal and infant predictors accounted for 24.2% of the variance in the 'Infant-Care Behaviours' score. In the second stage of model building, ethnocultural variables explained an additional 5.8% of the variance. Separate analyses for recent immigrants (resident in Canada less than 3 years) and less recent immigrants (3 or more years) yielded some differences in predictors. Among recent immigrants, worries about the infant's health, mother's education and an interaction term (current immigration status by parity) were significant predictors, explaining 23% of the variance. Among less recent immigrants, worries about the baby's health, prenatal class attendance, marital status and official language comprehension ability explained 37.7% of the variance.

Our results indicate that assessing ethnocultural characteristics, in addition to maternal and infant characteristics, improves the prediction of 'Infant-Care Behaviours' scores.