Childbirth experience and mental health of mothers during childcare

Purpose: This study aims at identifying childbirth experience and change in meanings during early puerperal period of one month to develop intervention to improve mental health of mothers after childbirth. Subjects and Method: The subjects were two mothers of their first babies. Semi constitutive interviews were conducted twice, at an early puerperal period and between discharge and one-month postpartum, asking "what is your childbirth experience?" The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed to explore their experiences, change in meanings and importance of retrospective review. Result: Two mothers showed changes in their mental state through describing their childbirth experience. During the first interview, they described the facts and verbalized their feelings. The second interview, on the other hand, showed that they made more self assertive statements, reflecting their efforts in exploring meaning in their experiences. Conclusion: Presence of a listener supports mothers in finding meaning in their childbirth experience. It was indicated that the way a listener listened to the mothers is important.