Abstract
D.Cur.
The postpartum-period is a very emotional time for the mother with a new
baby, which increases her need for support. Various factors contribute to
this need for support, such as the change from the extended family to the
nuclear family, which has reduced the number of network persons.
The hospitalisation period of the mother after the birth of a baby has also
decreased drastically, owing to the high medical costs associated with the
birth of a baby. This results in the mother being discharged from the
hospital much earlier and her accessibility to professional support being
limited thereby. This source of support, namely the professional person who
provides the mother with support, is also insufficient since the growth of
the population far exceeds that of the nursing occupation, and the need is to
huge for only professional persons to provide in. If the mother does not receive the necessary support that she may need, it
could lead to postpartum-depression, which has a detrimental effect not
only on the mother but also on the new baby and the mother's family. This
research is therefore vitally important to the midwife, as it ensures a
healthy mother and baby, not only in the hospital environment but also at
home in her community where she must live and raise her baby. Community support to the mother during the postpartum-period is a
relatively unfamiliar field in midwifery. Although the term community
support is often used, the definition thereof has not yet been clarified, and
it is used in different contexts, with different meanings. The term
community support to the mother has therefore not yet been adequately
described within the context of the postpartum-period.
The objective of this research is to investigate and describe, and analyse
the term community support to the mother during the postpartum-period,
and to identify the characteristics of community support to the mother
during the postpartum-period, as well as the network persons who must
provide this community support to the mother, in order to establish the
necessary guidelines for the provision of sufficient community support to
the mother during the postpartum-period.