The purpose of this study was to explore the difference in postpartum adjustment be-tween women who were at home for there “doing the month” and those who stayed in a maternity care center. A repeated measures de-sign was conducted, with data collected at 1 and 4 weeks postpartum. A total of 120 post-partum women participated in this study. Data were analyzed by factor analysis to determine the relationships within categories of postpar-tum strssors and depression. Then, the data were analyzed by 2×2 repeated measure MA-NOVA to determine the variations among groups and time. The results indicated that wo-men who were in maternity centers for the “doing the month” perceived significantly high-er stress than did the home group, and that wo-men perceived higher stress at 4 weeks postpar-tum than at 1 week postpartum. Factor analysis of the data defined four categories of postpar-tum stress. It was found that women at mate-rnity care centers perceived significantly higher stress from factors named, “stress from lacking of support system” and “stress from identifying maternal role”. In addition, women doing the month at maternity care centers showed signify-month at maternity care centers showed signifi-cantly higher depression level than women doing the month at home. However, there is no significant difference in postpartum stress and postpartum depression between time 1 (1 week postpartum) and time 2(4 weeks postpartum).
The purpose of this study was to explore the difference in postpartum adjustment be-tween women who were at home for there “doing the month” and those who stayed in a maternity care center. A repeated measures de-sign was conducted, with data collected at 1 and 4 weeks postpartum. A total of 120 post-partum women participated in this study. Data were analyzed by factor analysis to determine the relationships within categories of postpar-tum strssors and depression. Then, the data were analyzed by 2×2 repeated measure MA-NOVA to determine the variations among groups and time. The results indicated that wo-men who were in maternity centers for the “doing the month” perceived significantly high-er stress than did the home group, and that wo-men perceived higher stress at 4 weeks postpar-tum than at 1 week postpartum. Factor analysis of the data defined four categories of postpar-tum stress. It was found that women at mate-rnity care centers perceived significantly higher stress from factors named, “stress from lacking of support system” and “stress from identifying maternal role”. In addition, women doing the month at maternity care centers showed signify-month at maternity care centers showed signifi-cantly higher depression level than women doing the month at home. However, there is no significant difference in postpartum stress and postpartum depression between time 1 (1 week postpartum) and time 2(4 weeks postpartum).