Perceptions of Primiparas of their Newborns: A Comparision of Koreans and Americans

Park, Mun Hee; Lee, Ae Ran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare Korean and American women as to the perception of their newborns, and to assess factors contributing to a positive mother-infant relationships. American mothers were with their own newborns in the same rooms and could feed and take care of them if they wanted, but Korean mothers were separated from their babies. The subjects of this study were 86 Korean and 86 American primiparas within two-three days after delivery. Data were collected from May to August 1994, using the Neonatal Perception Inventory (NPI) devised by Broussard(1963) with additions by Lee, Ja Hyung(l986). The results of this study are as follows; 1. There was a significant difference in the mothers' perceptions of their babies according to mothers' age(P<0.05, P<0.01). Mothers of 20 years and downward had negative perceptions of their babies. 2. There was no difference in the mothers' perceptions of their babies according to whether they had a job or not. 3. There was a significant difference in the mothers' perceptions of their newborns according to mothers' education level (P<0.01). Mothers graduated from a junior high school had negative perceptions of their babies. 4. There was no difference in the mothers' perceptions according to their feeding pattern. 5. There was a significant difference between Korean mothers' perceptions and American mothers' perceptions of their babies(P<0.01). 69.7% of Korean mothers and 44.1% of American mothers had positive perceptions. But Korean mothers perceived that it would be more difficult for them to take care of their babies. As seen above, Korean primiparas evaluated their babies higher than Americans. But they perceived that it would be more difficult for them to take care of their babies. The results suggest that there needs a rooming-in system and systematic prenatal educations for the primiparas in Korea.