THE IMPACT OF THE HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENT ON EARLY MATERNAL MOOD STATES.
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 245
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.
Description: This comparative exploratory study investigated maternal perceptions of the postpartal environment and how they affected postpartal mood states. The study identified the effects of the following independent variables: territorial and personal space intrusion, privacy needs, dissatisfaction with hospital environment, room occupancy and hospital type; the dependent variable was maternal mood state. The sample comprised 57 primaparous women who had uncomplicated pregnancies and vaginally delivered healthy neonates at two midwestern hospitals; one public, one private, of contrasting architectural features. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from subjects during postpartal hospitalization, via non-participant observation of activity in both hospitals prior to subject recruitment, and brief telephoned follow-ups 3 weeks following discharge.

Statistical analysis revealed significant correlations between maternal mood scores and mothers' perceptions of the independent variables. Dissatisfaction with the hospital environment generated 26% of the variance, and territorial intrusion explained 6% of the variance in maternal mood scores. Of these nulliparous subjects, 83% preferred single-occupancy rooms. Women occupying single-occupancy rooms recorded lower mood disturbance scores and lower dissatisfaction scores than did women in double-occupancy rooms.

Qualitative data indicated higher dissatisfaction with the hospital at the Public Hospital than with subjects at Private Hospital; the dissatisfaction was linked with smaller room dimensions, inability to regulate staff entering their rooms, lack of bathroom privacy, fewer amenities, greater public visibility and a general sense in the double-occupancy rooms of crowdedness. Although limited by a small sample size, the study concludes that the majority of this sampling of midwestern middle-class, Caucasian, healthy primiparous women preferred single rooms.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-11, Section: B, page: 4982.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1989.

School code: 0034.