New mothers' perceptions of their first encounter with a health care provider

Since its genesis, health care has been developing and evolving to meet the needs of the population it serves. Hospital length of stay after childbirth has progressively decreased over the past 29 years initially in response to public pressure to reduce the medical aspect of childbirth. More recently, the decrease in length of stay has accelerated in response to cost-containment pressures (Eaton, 2001). This investigation examined new mothers’ perceptions of their maternal role attainment through their initial interaction with a health care provider. Ramona Mercer (1990) stated in Parents at Risk that there is a pressing need to facilitate early parent infant interactions and promote parental competence. Mercer recognized maternal role attainment as an ongoing, not an instantaneous, process. The variables selected were the health care provider and mothers’ satisfaction. The convenience sample consisted of new mothers who delivered at the facility where the researcher is employed. To be included in the sample set, mothers must have been seen by a pediatrician, family practice physician, or the advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) clinic, must have been discharged at the same time as the newborn, and must have had a first encounter with a health care provider within the first week of the newborn’s life. Research question one was, “Is there a statistically significant difference in new mothers’ perception of satisfaction, based on type of health care provider (ARNP or physician)?” This investigation looked at the difference between mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on the type of health care provider they had for their first infant visit. This was calculated with an independent t-test t (99) = -1.514, p = .104) using a sample size of (n = 52) for the ARNP (M = 79.15, SD = 9.48) and (n = 49) for the physician (M = 75.96, SD = 11.67). The second research question was, “Is there a statistically significant difference in new mothers’ perception of maternal role attainment based on the type of health care provider (ARNP or physician)?” This investigation looked at the difference between a mothers’ perception of role attainment based on the type of health care provider she saw on her first infant visit. This was calculated using an independent t-test [t(99) = -.607, p = 0.634] with a sample size of (n = 52) for the ARNP (M = 8.44, SD = 1.42) and a sample size of (n = 49) for the physician (M = 8.27, SD = 1.51). The third research question was, “Is there a statistically significant relationship between new mothers’ satisfaction and role attainment?” This investigation looked at the relationship between mothers’ satisfaction and role attainment. The correlation was calculated using a Pearson correlation coefficient (r = .18, p = .038) with a sample size (N = 101). The fourth research question “Is there a statistically significant difference in new mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on the age of the mother?” To compare mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on her age an independent t-test [t(99) = 0.35, p = 0.48] was run on the age of the mothers based on two groupings: group one (18-28 years, n = 61) and group two (29-46 years, n = 40). Group one (M = 4.33, SD = 0.62) and group two (M = 4.29, SD = 0.55). There was no significant statistical difference between new mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on their age. The fifth research question “Is there a statistically significant difference in new mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on the ethnicity of the mother?” An independent t-test was run between two groups due to the low sample size of any given ethnicity other then Caucasian. The two groups were Caucasian (n = 70, M = 72.39, SD = 10.23) and other (n = 31, M = 74.97, SD = 9.65). There was no difference in new mothers’ perception of satisfaction based on ethnicity. This investigation found no significant difference among the research questions one, two, four and five, but did find a significant relationship on research question three. This may suggest that the type of provider may not be the question but rather the relational aspect of the encounter. Further investigation from a qualitative perspective would allow a richer analysis of the journey to maternal attainment.