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First-Time Mothers: Social Support, Maternal Parental Self-Efficacy and Postnatal Depression

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Sample

N: 410
Subject Ages: Not available
Location: Republic of Ireland, a large maternity unit
SES: Not available
Eligibility: First-time mother aged 18 years and over with a singleton baby and a medically uncomplicated pregnancy or baby full term at delivery; baby discharged with mother; English as ﬁrst language; Caucasian.

Objective

To examine the relationships between social support, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression in ﬁrst-time mothers at six weeks post-delivery.

Variables Measured, Instruments Used

Social support - researcher-developed instrument
Maternal parental self-efﬁcacy - the Perceived Maternal Parental Self-Efﬁcacy Tool (Barnes & Adamson-Macedo, 2007)
Postnatal depression - the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (Cox, et al., 1987)

Design—Descriptive correlational

Findings

The significance of family support in enhancing maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and positively influencing mental health for ﬁrst-time mothers at 6 weeks post-delivery: There was a significant association between informal social network (family and friends) support and maternal parental self-efﬁcacy at 6 weeks post-delivery.
Significant relationships were found between: functional social support and postnatal depression; informal social support and postnatal depression; maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression; and informal social support and maternal parental self-efﬁcacy at 6 weeks post-delivery.

Limitations

As this was a quantitative study, mothers’ in-depth perceptions and experiences of social support, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy and postnatal depression have not been explored from their frame of reference.
Non-random sample: A convenience sample was selected due to time constraints and in an effort to obtain a large number of respondents with consideration for tests of statistical signiﬁcance. A random sample may have provided a group with differing support needs, maternal parental self-efﬁcacy levels and rates of postnatal depression.

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