The relationships between social support, maternal employment, postpartum anxiety, and maternal role competencies in Thai primiparous mothers

Transition to becoming a new mother may cause anxiety, especially for an employed woman. The social change because of economic problems in Thailand increases burdens for Thai women. Any new Thai mothers have to work outside home and care for their babies at the same time. This burden could negatively affect well being of both mother and baby. Social support has been known as a moderator of many psychological problems. Although there are many studies about social support, the studies about social support and maternal employment in Thai mothers are limited.; The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the relationships between social support, maternal employment, postpartum anxiety, and maternal role competencies in Thai primiparous mothers. The Roy Adaptation Model was used as a conceptual framework. Six hypotheses were developed from the problem statement: what are the relationships between social support, maternal employment, postpartum anxiety, and maternal role competencies in Thai primiparous mothers?; The study was conducted among 124 Thai primiparous postpartum mothers at a well baby clinic and a postpartum clinic in a public hospital in Thailand. Four tools used in this study were Demographic Data Sheet, Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Social Support, Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and What Being The Parent of A New Baby Is Like (WPL-R). These questionnaires were translated from English to Thai by using the back and forth translation method to maintain validity. Multivariate statistics, Multiple Regression, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used for data analysis.; The results revealed that social support and maternal employment had an effect on postpartum anxiety, but only social support had an effect on maternal competencies. Support from family and significant persons affected maternal competencies as evidenced by caring for the babies. Only social support could predict the level of postpartum anxiety. The results of this study exploring social support and psychosocial adaptation of Thai primiparous mothers can help nurses provide guidance of some essential dimensions of support for first time mothers.