“Never the same again”: A descriptive qualitative inquiry into postpartum experiences of first-time mothers in the Oti Region of Ghana

IF 2.6 3区医学 Q1 NURSING

Midwifery Pub Date : 2025-04-30 DOI:10.1016/j.midw.2025.104440

Bernice Wadei , Anthony Kwame Morgan , Kwame Ansong Wadei

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

The postpartum period is a crucial yet often neglected stage of childbirth in Ghana. Cultural expectations and societal norms often lead some women—especially first-time mothers with no prior experience—to focus more on childbirth as a significant life event, while their postpartum well-being remains overlooked. However, childbirth often brings physical, emotional, social, and psychological changes that need to be carefully managed for the greater well-being of the mother and child.

Aim

This study investigates the postpartum experiences of first-time mothers in the Oti Region of Ghana with the Biopsychosocial Model as its theoretical foundation.

Methods

Achored on qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 first-time mothers to explore themes such as physical health challenges, psychological distress, and social support during postpartum.

Findings

Diverse postpartum experiences were established among the first-time mothers, which highlight the pivotal roles of spousal, familial, and healthcare support in shaping maternal well-being during this critical post-childbirth period. Specifically, these supportive resources helped these first-time mothers through physical health, psychological, emotional, neurological, and sensory issues. However, these social support systems were uneven, thereby creating differential postpartum experiences.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight the need for policy and interventions to enhance comprehensive access to postpartum care, address healthcare delivery gaps, and promote culturally sensitive maternal health services. Healthcare providers must therefore adopt holistic care strategies that covers the physical, emotional, and social dimensions of postpartum health. These should include follow-ups, mental health screenings, and personalized postpartum education, and care. Finally, future research should prioritize postpartum care and long-term health outcomes in addition to mechanisms that strengthen social support systems and advance maternal health nationwide.

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“再也不一样了”：对加纳奥蒂地区首次母亲产后经历的描述性定性调查

在加纳，产后时期是分娩过程中一个至关重要却经常被忽视的阶段。文化期望和社会规范常常导致一些女性——尤其是没有经验的第一次妈妈——更多地把分娩作为一件重要的生活事件，而她们的产后健康状况却被忽视了。然而，分娩往往会带来身体、情感、社会和心理上的变化，为了母亲和孩子的更大福祉，这些变化需要仔细管理。目的以生物心理社会模型为理论基础，对加纳奥蒂地区初为人母的产后经历进行研究。方法采用质性访谈法，对25名初产母亲进行半结构化访谈，探讨产后生理健康挑战、心理困扰和社会支持等问题。研究结果：首次母亲的产后经历各不相同，这突出了配偶、家庭和医疗保健支持在塑造分娩后这一关键时期的产妇健康方面的关键作用。具体来说，这些支持性资源帮助这些第一次做妈妈的人解决了身体健康、心理、情感、神经和感官问题。然而，这些社会支持系统是不平衡的，从而造成了产后体验的差异。结论我们的研究结果强调了政策和干预措施的必要性，以提高产后护理的综合可及性，解决医疗保健服务差距，促进文化敏感的孕产妇保健服务。因此，医疗保健提供者必须采取全面的护理策略，涵盖产后健康的身体、情感和社会层面。这些措施应包括随访、心理健康检查和个性化的产后教育和护理。最后，未来的研究应优先考虑产后护理和长期健康结果，以及加强社会支持系统和促进全国孕产妇健康的机制。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Midwifery 医学-护理

CiteScore

4.50

自引率

7.40%

发文量

221

审稿时长

13.4 weeks

期刊介绍： Midwifery publishes the latest peer reviewed international research to inform the safety, quality, outcomes and experiences of pregnancy, birth and maternity care for childbearing women, their babies and families. The journal’s publications support midwives and maternity care providers to explore and develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes informed by best available evidence. Midwifery provides an international, interdisciplinary forum for the publication, dissemination and discussion of advances in evidence, controversies and current research, and promotes continuing education through publication of systematic and other scholarly reviews and updates. Midwifery articles cover the cultural, clinical, psycho-social, sociological, epidemiological, education, managerial, workforce, organizational and technological areas of practice in preconception, maternal and infant care. The journal welcomes the highest quality scholarly research that employs rigorous methodology. Midwifery is a leading international journal in midwifery and maternal health with a current impact factor of 1.861 (© Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports 2016) and employs a double-blind peer review process.