PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the effects of puerperium maternal anxiety, quality of marital relationship, and postpartum blues on late postpartum depression. METHODS: Participants were 130 postpartum women who delivered healthy babies, and answered self-administered questionnaires, such as Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS-K), Spielberger's State Anxiety Inventory, and Quality of Marital Relationships during the 1st week of delivery and 4–6 weeks postpartum. Data were analyzed using t–test, ANOVA, Spearman's rho correlation coefficient, and hierarchical stepwise multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The point prevalence of postpartum depression (EPDS-K ≥10, cut-off score) was 23.1% at early postpartum and 16.9% at late postpartum. Predictors of late postpartum depression were early postpartum depression (β=0.86), the difference between early and late postpartum anxiety (β=0.19), and the difference between early and late Quality of Marital Relationships (β=−0.13) (F=70.52, p<0.001). The total vatiance explained was 76.5%. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that a maternal management system should be established at maternity hospitals to screen new mothers' depression and anxiety risks during the early postpartum stage.
Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Depression, Postpartum* ; Female ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Marriage* ; Postpartum Period* ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: To analyze the job of nursing unit managers working at women's hospital, using DACUM (developing a curriculum), DACUM is a method for analyzing job-focused competency. METHODS: This study involved a descriptive survey. A DACUM workshop was held to define women's hospital nursing unit managers' role and identify their duties and tasks. For the workshop, a committee was formed consisting of 5 women's hospital nursing unit managers. Finally, after validation, the developed contents were made into a survey asking about nursing unit manager's duties and tasks. RESULTS: Sixteen duties and 83 tasks were identified on the DACUM chart. The importance, difficulty, and frequency of the tasks were ranked in terms of A, B, and C, with A being the highest degree. Eight tasks received A's all in importance, difficulty, and frequency of performance. The 8 tasks were: ‘taking over’, ‘taking care of seriously ill patients on handover’, ‘ward rounding’, ‘analyzing and resolving demands identified during handover and patient tour’, ‘reporting patient status during rounding’, ‘promoting breast-feeding’, ‘uterine contraction, and training for breast-feeding’. The duty with the biggest determinant coefficient (DC) was ‘patients complaint management’ (DC=7.09). Based on tasks, the one with the biggest DC was ‘solving patient and patient guardian's complaints’ (DC=7.53), followed by ‘making infection control guidelines’ (DC=7.5). CONCLUSION: When expanding the nursing staff of the hospital, women's hospitals nursing unit managers also need to use administrative functions as intermediaries to focus on the operation management of the entire hospital rather than direct nursing to suit their role.
Education ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Methods ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing ; Nursing, Supervisory ; Task Performance and Analysis

This paper centers on the staff nurses' level of competency and patients' level of satisfaction. Descriptive comparative design was utilized covering 32 staff nurses and 37 maternity patients from an accredited government maternity hospital. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The questionnaires that were employed came from the Department of Health's Philippine Nurse Certification Program Self Assessment Tool for Level 3 Certification in Maternal and Child Nursing. The profile of staff nurses includes gender, length of experience, and educational attainment. On the other hand, gravidity, parity, and age are the patients' profile. Informed consent was given to all respondents. Statistical tools that were used includes: frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-Test, one way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation. The result concluded that there was no significant difference in the staff nurses' level of competency and patients' level of satisfaction when their profiles were considered. Moreover, it can be elucidated that there was no significant relationship between the level of competency and level of satisfaction. It can be interpreted that staff nurses are highly competent and patients are highly satisfied in terms of Client Care, Management and Leadership, and Research. However, there were statements with moderately competent results namely assess degree of laceration and actively participates in the collection of data research process to improve Maternal and Child Nursing practice in work setting with a mean of 2.50 and 2.28 respectively. The researcher suggests enhancement program in the form of the following trainings: internal external suturing in coordination with Association of Nursing Service Administrators of the Philippines and Research Process in coordination with Philippine Nursing Research Society.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Leadership ; Self-assessment ; Gravidity ; Parity ; Personal Satisfaction ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Lacerations ; Societies, Nursing ; Nursing Research

This paper centers on the staff nurses' level of competency and patients' level of satisfaction. Descriptive comparative design was utilized covering 32 staff nurses and 37 maternity patients from an accredited government maternity hospital. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The questionnaires that were employed came from the Department of Health's Philippine Nurse Certification Program Self Assessment Tool for Level 3 Certification in Maternal and Child Nursing. The profile of staff nurses includes gender, length of experience, and educational attainment. On the other hand, gravidity, parity, and age are the patients' profile. Informed consent was given to all respondents. Statistical tools that were used includes: frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-Test, one way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation. The result concluded that there was no significant difference in the staff nurses' level of competency and patients' level of satisfaction when their profiles were considered. Moreover, it can be elucidated that there was no significant relationship between the level of competency and level of satisfaction. It can be interpreted that staff nurses are highly competent and patients are highly satisfied in terms of Client Care, Management and Leadership, and Research. However, there were statements with moderately competent results namely assess degree of laceration and actively participates in the collection of data research process to improve Maternal and Child Nursing practice in work setting with a mean of 2.50 and 2.28 respectively. The researcher suggests enhancement program in the form of the following trainings: internal external suturing in coordination with Association of Nursing Service Administrators of the Philippines and Research Process in coordination with Philippine Nursing Research Society.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Leadership ; Self-assessment ; Gravidity ; Parity ; Personal Satisfaction ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Lacerations ; Societies, Nursing ; Nursing Research

OBJECTIVETo investigate the secular trend of advanced maternal age woman (>or= 35 year-old) in our country.

METHODSData on maternal woman at different age were collected at surveillance hospital in Chinese Birth Defects Monitoring Network from 1996 to 2007 and retrospective analysis of the trend of advanced maternal women were carried out. Trend analysis of the advanced maternal age in urban and rural areas of west, middle and east areas was also conducted. Chi-square test was applied to test the differences and the fitting model analysis was also applied.

RESULTSA total of 6,308,594 parturient woman were monitored, included 354,511 woman (5.62%) of advanced maternal age. In 1996 and 2007, the proportion of the advanced maternal woman were 2.96% (12,508/422,486) and 8.56% (66,351/775,333), respectively. It showed an increasing trend for the national woman proportion of advanced maternal age from 1996 to 2007 (chi(2) = 45 376.16, P < 0.01). In city, the proportion of advanced maternal age woman were 2.95% (8755/296,975) and 7.69% (40,197/522,596) in 1996 and 2007, respectively. In rural region, the proportion of advanced maternal age woman were 2.99% (3753/125,511) and 10.35% (26,154/252,737) in 1996 and 2007, respectively. It showed increasing both in city and rural areas (chi(2)(city) = 24,152.86, P < 0.01; chi(2)(rural) = 20,809.79, P < 0.01). And the proportions in urban area and rural area were 5.13% (221,655/4,317,533) and 6.67% (132,856/1,991,061), the proportions difference was significant in statistics (chi(2) = 1536.260, P < 0.01). An Exponential model was established, ln(Y) = ln(2.52) + (0.103 x t). In east areas, the proportion were 3.90%and 8.81% in 1996 and 2007, respectively, in middle areas the respective proportions were 2.49% and 8.56%, in west areas were 2.11% and 8.21%. They all showed increasing trend in proportion of advanced maternal age from 1996 to 2007 year in east areas, middle areas and west areas (chi(2)(east) = 11,746.87, P < 0.01; chi(2)(middle) = 17,350.21, P < 0.01; chi(2)(west) = 16,432.68, P < 0.01). But the proportions of city and rural were different in those areas.

CONCLUSIONThe proportion of advanced maternal woman had secular increasing trend and the rates were lower in city than in rural areas.

Adult ; Age Distribution ; China ; Female ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Maternal Age ; Middle Aged ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Rural Population ; Urban Population

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the relationships among the perceptions and practice of taegyo (a traditional set of practices and beliefs related to healthy fetal development) and maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women.METHODS: The participants were 136 pregnant women who visited a public health center or maternity hospital for prenatal care. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of varience, and Pearson correlation coefficients with SPSS version 22.0.RESULTS: The mean age of the pregnant women was 32.24±3.99 years. The mean scores for perceptions of taegyo, practice of taegyo, and maternal-fetal attachment were 3.96±0.53, 3.74±0.64, and 3.94±0.49, respectively. Perceptions of taegyo were significantly correlated with the practice of taegyo (r=.72, p<.001), and maternal-fetal attachment (r=.55, p<.001). A significant correlation was also found between the practice of taegyo and maternal-fetal attachment (r=.65, p<.001).CONCLUSION: Perceptions of taegyo affected the practice of taegyo, and had a positive effect on maternal-fetal attachment. These findings suggest that primary care nurses at hospitals and public health centers should provide nursing intervention programs to improve the perceptions of taegyo, the practice of taegyo, and maternal-fetal attachment.
Female ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Maternal-Fetal Relations ; Nursing ; Pregnant Women ; Prenatal Care ; Primary Health Care ; Public Health

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to identify nurses' knowledge and attitudes on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) of menopausal women. METHODS: Data were collected from 221 nurses who were working at maternity hospitals in the whole country using questionnaires consisting of 9 questions related to menopause-related knowledge and HRT-related attitudes and knowledge. RESULTS: According to the nurses's responses, the diseases of concern in menopausal women were osteoporosis (78%), and depression (69%). Most nurses replied that the most effective treatment of menopausal symptoms is HRT, and nurses were very knowledgeable about its strengths (59%) and weaknesses (44%). Cancer was regarded as the major complication of HRT (71%), and its side effects were breast pain (77%) and vaginal bleeding (77%). Forty-six percent of nurses thought that the appropriate treatment duration of HRT is not necessary to limit the period. The most important considerations when conducting HRT were drug stability (59%) and improving the quality of life (36%). Ninety-fi ve percent of nurses responded that they personally would use HRT for menopausal treatment or would recommend their family. HRT for menopausal symptoms was being utilized before seeking medical treatment (40%) and after drug prescription (42%). CONCLUSION: Nurses have very positive attitudes about HRT but appeared to lack critical knowledge about HRT. Therefore, more educational programs for nurses about HRT should be required.
Depression ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drug Stability ; Female ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Mastodynia ; Menopause ; Osteoporosis ; Quality of Life ; Uterine Hemorrhage ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Precise prenatal care and safe childbirth under the guidance of a qualified obstetrician are essential reproductive healthcare services that enhance the survival and wellbeing of mothers and newborns. However, during recent decades many maternity hospitals and clinics in Korea have closed, particularly those in rural areas. In addition, the number of obstetricians providing care for pregnant women is declining. This reduction in obstetric services is a growing political issue in Korea. Several policies and programs have tried to accelerate and expand the provision of essential maternity services, especially in rural areas, but there have been numerous barriers to overcome, including malpractice litigations. Now is the time to discuss the role of current and future government programs in the improvement of obstetric care and, moreover, to develop outlines for progress in underserved areas.
Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; Government Programs ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Jurisprudence ; Korea* ; Malpractice ; Mothers ; Parturition* ; Politics ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Prenatal Care

This study was carried out to understand the home health care needs of postpartum women during the postpartum period. The goal of this study was to obtain data needed to develope postpartum home health care programs and to improve the nursing quality for postpartum women. A convenient sample of 105 healthy women who were discharged after delivery at a maternity hospital in Ulsan, Korea were studied from January 25 to April 15, 2001. Data collection was done with a structured questionnaire (maternal concerns questionnaire) by mailing. Data was collected from 1 to 4 weeks after delivery. The Results of this study were as follows: 1. The mean score of home health care need of postpartum women was 2.51. The degree of nursing need according to the category of home health care needs was 'concerns about the infant (2.91 +/- .68)', 'maternal physical and emotional concerns (2.62 +/- .52)', 'concerns related to the husband (2.45+/-73)', 'concerns related to the family (2.16+/-.64)', 'concerns related to the community (2.03+/-.60)' in rank. Among the items, 'recognizing illness in the newborn (3.36+/-.83)', 'normal growth and development (3.33+/-.92)' were high. 2. Among items of concerns about infant (2.91+/-.68), 'recognizing illness in the newborn (3.36+/-.83)', 'normal growth and development (3.33+/-.52)' showed high nursing needs. 3. Among items of maternal physical and emotional concerns (2.62+/-.52), 'being a good mother (3.31=/-.86)', 'return of their figures to normal (3.04+/-1.05) showed high nursing needs. 4. Among items of concerns about husband (2.45+/-.73), 'husband being a good father (2.84+/-1.00) shows high nursing needs. 5. Among items of concerns related to the community (2.03+/-.60), 'getting to health care facilities (2.69+/-.90) shows high nursing needs. 6. On considering the relationship between the postpartum women s home health care needs and their general characteristics, parity (t=2.436, p=.017) and delivery type (t=2.074, p=.041) were statistically significant.
Delivery of Health Care* ; Fathers ; Female ; Growth and Development ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Mothers ; Nursing ; Parity ; Postal Service ; Postpartum Period* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Spouses ; Ulsan

Because childbirth is a complex and difficult process, intensive preparation, and the immediate availability of emergency assistance during every step of delivery support to maternal safety. The World Health Organization recommends that pregnant women must be able to access the right care at the right time. Appropriate obstetricians is important factor for easy access during pregnancy. Especially, an increase in the number of specialists in maternal-fetal medicine would greatly improve the pregnancy outcomes of high-risk women. In 2013, a total of 2,274 obstetricians were employed in maternity hospitals and clinics in Korea. Their average age was 44.8 years and they will get older soon. By 2026, 740 junior obstetricians will join the maternity care system, but 916 senior obstetricians will have retired on night duty at hospital because of above 60 years of age. Thus, obstetrician numbers will fall by 176. Korea requires 2,338~3,507 obstetricians based on an annual number of deliveries per obstetrician in 2016. However, Korea has a shortage of obstetricians because of the low birth rate-induced business losses, inadequate payment system by the national health insurance program, and the quality-of-life preferences of young doctors. Ensuring an appropriate supply of obstetricians is essential for infrastructure of safe childbirth. I believe that adequate payment by the national health insurance program, and new medical insurance fees for management of high-risk pregnancies, will encourage young doctors to become obstetricians. The government should also introduce additional night duty fees and overseas training programs for young obstetricians.
Commerce ; Education ; Emergencies ; Fees and Charges ; Female ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Insurance ; Korea* ; National Health Programs ; Parturition* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy, High-Risk ; Pregnant Women ; Specialization ; World Health Organization