IJMST 2017 Volume 7 Issue 8
International Journal of Medical Sciences and Technology (IJMST) ISSN:0974-5343
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Health-related Quality of Life of Mothers at 12 Weeks after Normal Vaginal Birth in Selected Hospitals in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria. Chinemerem Eleke, Ifeyinwa Stephina Agu. IJMST (2017), 7(8):47-51
FULL TEXT SWF:
Title:
Health-related Quality of Life of Mothers at 12 Weeks after Normal Vaginal Birth in Selected Hospitals in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria
Authors & Affiliation:
Chinemerem Eleke 1, Ifeyinwa Stephina Agu 2
1 School of Midwifery, Ministry of Health, Abia State, Nigeria
2 School of Nursing, Umulogho-obowo, Imo State, Nigeria
choaxdance@yahoo.com, ifeyinwa2002ng@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT:
The process of birth may mean extra pressure on a mother’s wellbeing, and this could affect her health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Due to paucity of published Nigeria based studies on HRQoL, this study assessed the postpartum HRQoL of mothers at 12weeks after normal vaginal birth in selected hospitals in Enugu metropolis. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design. Four hospitals were selected for recruitment of participants. A total of 79 participants who gave birth between August 2015 and July 2016 were enrolled into the study using purposive sampling. Adapted RAND-36 questionnaire was used in measuring HRQoL. Data was collected from each participant after informed consent and ethical clearance have been obtained. Descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze collated data. Level of significance was set at 0.05. The mean (SD) age and parity of participants were 34.17 (5.56) and 3 (1) respectively. Findings revealed that mean (SD) HRQoL was 58.14 (15.47). However, participants rated their physical functioning and role limitation due to emotional problem at score range 0 - 49. There was no significant difference in HRQoL among the participants, based on age and parity. The findings demonstrated that in this group of postpartum mothers at 12 weeks after normal vaginal birth, HRQoL was moderate, but there was poor physical functioning and role limitation due to emotional problem. It is recommended that healthcare providers should consider postpartum counselling on physical and emotional aspects of maternal health to ensure a quicker return to optimal maternal HRQoL.
Keywords: Quality of life, postpartum, vaginal birth, Nigeria