Effectiveness of Postnatal Home Visits in Reducing Fatigue Among Mothers with Unplanned Pregnancies

Abstract

Objective: This study identified the risk factors for fatigue in child-rearing recognizable in early pregnancy and evaluated the effects of postnatal home visits on parenting fatigue. Methods: Data from 348 mothers who delivered live infants during January–March 2013 in Japan were collected retrospectively. The mothers received the Maternal and Child Health handbook in their first trimester and answered an accompanying questionnaire. For each family, we extracted the timing of postnatal home visits conducted by the Public Health Center. We compared the factors in early pregnancy between exhausted and non-exhausted mothers at nine months postpartum. We also compared the postpartum fatigue between mothers with and without early postnatal home visits. Results: There were significantly more unplanned pregnancies among exhausted mothers compared to mothers who did not experience exhaustion. Among those with unplanned pregnancies, we also found significantly more non-exhausted mothers among those who received postnatal home visits within two months postpartum compared with those who received home visits after two months. Conclusion: An unplanned pregnancy can be a risk factor for fatigue at nine months postpartum. Conducting home visits for mothers who had unplanned pregnancies within two months of delivery may reduce fatigue and positively contribute to mothers’ mental health.