Effects of Home Nursing Care on Self Care for Early Discharged Mothers Following a Cesarean Section

자가간호향상을 위한 제왕절개산모의 가정간호 효과

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the self care focused home nursing' care outcomes of parturient women following Cesarean sections, The subjects included 56 parturient women following a cesarean section, and they were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a control group, The experimental group included women who were discharged early from the hospital. 4-5 days after having a cesarean section. Home nursing care for the experimental group consisted of stitch removal. wound care and education for parturient women. Home nursing care was provided for 2-3 days after early discharge. The outcomes of self care focused home nursing care were measured by self-care competency. Data collection was done by a self-reported questionnaire and by a telephone interview 2-3 days after discharge from the hospital(control) or after home care (experimental) from December, 20, 1998 to June, 10, 1999. The questionnaire consisted of 25 items on 9 self-care domains. Data was analyzed by a t-test. and as $x^2$-test. The study results were as follows: 1. The general characteristics of both groups were similar except for the total number of pregnancies, and whether or not they wanted the pregnancy at this time. 2. The self-care competency scores for the experimental group receiving self care focused home nursing care were higher than the scores for the control group(t=2.361. $p{\le}.05$). 3. There was no significant difference in the rate of OPD visiting, readmission, or emergency room use between the two groups. We concluded that self care focused home nursing care is effective in promoting the self-care competency of parturient women following Cesarean sections. It is suggested that further study is needed with a larger sample to be able to generalize these results.