Ju-Eun Song

The Changing Pattern of Physical and Psychological Health, and Maternal Adjustment Between Primiparas Who Used and Those Who did Not Use Sanhujori Facilities

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare levels of postpartum fatigue, depression, childcare stress, and maternal identity according to postpartum period between primiparas who used Sanhujori facilities and those who did not. METHODS The research design was a longitudinal descriptive study using self-report questionnaires. Participants were 55 healthy primiparas who delivered at one of 3 hospitals in Chungnam, 21 using Sanhujori facilities and 34 not using these facilities during the first three weeks after childbirth. Data were collected from October 2008 to April 2009 at three measurement points, 2-4 days after childbirth (T1), 4-6 weeks (T2), and 12-14 weeks (T3). Data were analyzed using the SPSS 17.0 WIN program. RESULTS There was a significant difference in childcare stress between the two groups at 4-6 weeks after childbirth. Postpartum depression and childcare stress at 4-6 weeks were significantly higher than those of the other postpartum periods, while maternal identity was significantly lower. CONCLUSION Child care stress is the most important issue among women who use Sanhujori facilities and the 4-6 week period after childbirth is very difficult to primiparas. These results indicate that nursing interventions for primiparas in Sanhujori facilities should focus on reducing childcare stress. Furthermore proper follow-up programs at 4-6 weeks are needed to decrease the difficulties in adjustment by new mothers.

The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Organizational Performance in Clinical Nurses - A Preliminary Study for an Education Program of Organizational Performance -

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover the effect of emotional intelligence on organizational performance in clinical nurses regarding anger expression, job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover intention. Methods: Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires from 162 clinical nurses in three university hospitals in 2008, and analyzed by the SPSS 14.0 Window program, using descriptive statistics, pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Emotional intelligence showed a statistically significant association with each of anger expression-in, anger expression-control, job satisfaction, job commitment, turnover intention, and organizational performance. The multiple regression analysis also showed that organizational performance was statistically significant with job satisfaction, job commitment, and emotional intelligence respectively. 38.0% of the variation of organizational performance was explained by these variables. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence significantly affected organizational performance together with job satisfaction and job commitment. From this result, it could be concluded that nursing interventions for emotional intelligence have a positive effect on improving organizational performance. Further studies are needed to develop nursing intervention programs for emotional intelligence and test its effects on organizational performance.

A Systematic Review of Psychosocial Interventions for Women with Postpartum Stress

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effects of psychosocial interventions with the aim of reducing the intensity of stress in mothers during the postpartum period as compared with usual care. DATA SOURCES Eligible studies were identified by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and ProQuest dissertations and theses. STUDY SELECTION Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) treating stress in postpartum mothers older than age 19 years were included. The suitability of the quality of articles was evaluated using Joanna Briggs Institutes Critical Appraisal Checklist for Experimental Studies. Fourteen articles met the inclusion criteria for data analysis. DATA EXTRACTION Authors, country, sample, setting, methods, time period, major content of the intervention, outcome measures, and salient findings were extracted and summarized in a data extraction form for further analysis and synthesis. DATA SYNTHESIS Standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for 13 suitable articles using Cochrane Review Manager. RESULTS Of 1,871 publications, 14 RCTs, conducted between 1994 and 2012, were evaluated in the systematic review and 13 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Studies were categorized into three major types by interventional methods. We found that psychosocial interventions in general (standard mean difference -1.66, 95% confidence interval [-2.74, -0.57], p = .003), and supportive stress management programs in particular (standard mean difference -0.59, 95% confidence interval [-0.94, -0.23], p = .001), were effective for women dealing with postpartum stress. CONCLUSIONS This review indicated that psychosocial interventions including supportive stress management programs are effective for reducing postpartum stress in women, so those interventions should become an essential part of maternity care.

Predictors of Maternal Identity of Korean Primiparas

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing maternal identity of Korean primiparas. METHODS The data were collected by a self-report questionnaire in 2006. The participants were 210 healthy primiparous women who delivered at one of three medical centers and revisited the outpatient department for follow up between 4 to 6 weeks after childbirth. Data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 17.0 program with descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS Maternal identity was significantly correlated with Taekyo accomplishment, the culturally based prenatal preparation (p<.001). Transitional gratification to motherhood (p<.001), postpartum depression (p<.001), childcare stress (p<.001), infant temperament (p<.001), and social support (p<.001) were also significantly correlated with maternal identity. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that maternal identity was significantly predicted by transitional gratification to motherhood, infant temperament, childcare stress, and Taekyo accomplishment. These variables explained 31.0% of the variance of maternal identity. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that postpartum nursing interventions to promote maternal identity should focus on reinforcing education and support for reducing childcare stress and infant difficulty, and increasing transitional gratification to motherhood. Also, prenatal encouragement and education for improving Taekyo accomplishment may be helpful to promote maternal identity after birth.

Factors related to low birth rate among married women in Korea

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing low birth rate among married women using the National Survey data in Korea. We compared the different influences on women’s first and subsequent childbirths. This study was a secondary analysis using the “National Survey on Fertility and Family Health and Welfare”, which was a nationally representative survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. We analyzed the data of 3,482 married women (aged between 19 and 39 years) using SPSS 20.0 program for descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and binary and ordinal logistic regression models. The factors influencing women’s first childbirth included perceptions about the value of marriage and children and their education level. The factors influencing their subsequent childbirths included multifaceted variables of maternal age during the first childbirth, residential area, religion, monthly household income, perceptions about the value of marriage and children, and social media. It is necessary to improve women’s awareness and positive perceptions about marriage and children in order to increase the birth rate in Korea. Moreover, consistently providing financial and political support for maternal and childcare concerns and using social media to foster more positive attitudes toward having children may enhance birth rates in the future.

Health of International Marriage Immigrant Women in South Korea: A Systematic Review

International marriage migration is now one of the most prominent forms of migration in Asia, and the number of women migrating to South Korea for marriage has increased dramatically in the last two decades. In this article, we provide a systematic review regarding the health status and health-related issues of international marriage immigrant women. The literature search identified 620 articles, of which 53 studies are presented in the article. Three overarching categories including six subcategories were identified according to the research focus; ‘Environmental factors of health’ including social support and barriers, ‘Health status’ including physical, psychological and social health, and quality of life as ‘Outcome of health’. Overall women immigrants by marriage showed relatively poor health outcomes. Social support was an important factor affecting the health status and quality of life in this population. We offer recommendations to develop and implement culturally and linguistically appropriate health promoting programs for international marriage immigrant women in South Korea.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Korean Version of Patient-Centered Care Scale for Hospital Nurses

Patient-centered care (PCC) encourages active collaboration and effective communication among patients, their family caregivers, and health-care providers to achieve high-quality care. Despite its importance, there is no validated and reliable Korean instrument for assessing PCC among health-care providers yet. This study aimed to establish a Korean version of the PCC (K-PCC) Scale using international translation guidelines and systematically evaluating its psychometric properties. The participants in this study were 424 nurses with a mean age of 28.07 years (±4.56) from two university hospitals in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis identified that the revised model, which included three factors (holistic, collaborative, and responsive care), had a satisfactory goodness of fit. The testing of item convergent and item-discriminant validity revealed a 100% scaling success. Criterion validity showed that nurses who had positive perceptions of K-PCC were more likely to practice PCC (r = .692, p < .001). The internal consistency for 23 items as a whole was good, at .935. From these results, K-PCC is considered a valid and reliable instrument for measuring health-care providers’ perceptions of PCC among Korean populations. Scale brevity and simplicity, together with rigorous testing, indicate that validation of the PCC Scale may be helpful for ensuring quality improvement in hospital settings.

Factors influencing parenting efficacy of Asian immigrant, first-time mothers: A cross-sectional, correlational survey

In this study, we determined the factors influencing parenting efficacy of Asian immigrant, first-time mothers. The research design was a cross-sectional, correlational study. The study included 125 first-time mothers who immigrated and married Korean men, and were living in Korea. Data were collected using translated questionnaires, and analyzed for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The major finding was that the parenting efficacy of immigrant women was influenced by childcare support from their husbands, maternal identity, and original nationality. The findings suggest that customized programs be developed and used to enhance parenting efficacy for Asian immigrant, first-time mothers. In developing such programs, the advantages of maternal identity, social support from the husband, and womens cultural context should be considered.