Mothers' perceptions and experiences of postnatal community visits by the midwife

Abstract

Postnatal home visits by a midwife play a vital role in supporting new mothers and their newborns during the postpartum period. These visits aim to ensure the physical and mental well-being of both the mother and baby by providing medical care, emotional support, and guidance during the recovery journey. This proposed research seeks to explore and understand mothers’ perceptions and experiences of postnatal community home visits by the midwife; examine the physical care, emotional and psychological support and psychological guidelines received by mothers from midwives during these visits; and identify potential areas for improvement in the structure and delivery of postnatal care provided by community midwives. The proposed study will adopt a qualitative research approach employing in-person semi-structured interviews with each participant, guided by an interview schedule specifically designed for this research. Purposive sampling will be employed to recruit either participants who are first- time mothers and who have received at least one postnatal home visit from the Discharge Liaison Midwives (DLM). Participants will be recruited from the Infant Feeding Clinic within the local hospital. The interviews will be conducted once with each participant, in a private location and at a time that is convenient for them. Interviews will be audio-recorded as long as participants give their consent. Data will be analysed via thematic analysis to identify emerging patterns that will be coded and grouped into superordinate themes. Meticulous care will be exercised to comply with the highest ethical standards throughout the research process, with particular attention to ensuring participants’ safety and trustworthiness of the data. The research will contribute to the enhancement of postnatal care services provided locally by informing the development of more tailored and responsive care that meet the specific needs of first- time mothers. Furthermore, the study seeks to encourage further research within this area to strengthen evidence-based midwifery practice.