RETURN TO WORK INTENTIONS AND HEALTH STATUS OF POSTPARTUM WOMEN OF FINLAND (MATERNITY LEAVE).
Contributors: University of Washington.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 124
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Women's Studies.; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Description: The employment choices and health status of 203 postpartum women of Finland, a country in which an extended maternity employment leave is supported by law, cultural value, and common practice are described. Return to work intentions and three health status indicators were measured using a voluntary, anonymous questionnaire that had been translated from English to Finnish. Respondents used visual analog scales to report perceived global health status during the past month and their Perception of Functional Ability (Allen, Betrus, Nakagawa-Kogan, & Elmore, 1988). Somatic and physiological symptoms were measured using the Symptoms of Stress Scale (Thompson & Leckie, 1986). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Respondent's ages ranged from 21 to 40 years (M = 29.7; SD = 4.3). The time since giving birth ranged from 1 week to 12 months (M = 5.5; SD = 3.4). Of the 203 Finnish working women in the sample, 98% were still on maternity leave or intended to remain on maternity leave through the sixth postpartum month. The mean global health status rating was 84% healthy (SD = 16). Tiredness/fatigue during the past month was the symptom with the highest mean value (M = 2.16; SD = 0.99), experienced, on the average, between "sometimes" and "often." The mean perceived functional ability was 77% of optimal (SD = 15).

Results indicate that postpartum women of Finland experience generally good health, low negative symptomotology, and good functional ability. This is similar to the health status of employed and nonemployed samples of postpartum women reported in the literature. The return to work intentions of the Finnish women contrast with common practices in the United States where employed women typically return to work by 4 or 6 months after childbearing. This research raises the question of whether an early return to work means delayed negative health consequences or that negative health consequences are more severe and/or more prolonged than if the maternity leave can be extended. If this were found to be true, then the example of Finland in providing a supportive maternity leave environment could serve as a model for postpartum women worldwide.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: B, page: 3813.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, 1994.

School code: 0250.