The effect of Empowerment of Grandmother on Depression and Maternal Role Realization in Primiparae with Hospitalized Infant: A Randomized, Controlled, Clinical Trial

Hospitalization of the newborn infant can cause depression crisis and severely undermine the attainment and realization of maternal role in a primipara. The neonate’s maternal grandmother can provide the support needed to help the primipara avoid or overcome the ensuing problems.
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effect of empowerment of grandmothers on depression and maternal role realization in primiparae with hospitalized newborn.
In this randomized, controlled, clinical trial, 84 primiparae with their infants admitted to Shahid Rajaei Hospital of Gachsaran, Iran, were assigned to intervention and control groups. A grandmother empowerment intervention was devised by combining the concepts of Mercer’s theory with the stages of Ravanipour’s self-management empowerment model. The control group received the routine care. Depression and maternal role realization in all the primiparae were measured with Beck Depression Inventory and a researcher-made role realization questionnaire before and one month after the intervention. Data was analyzed by independent and paired t-test in SPSS, version 18.
The mean ages of the mothers in the intervention and control groups were respectively 27.02±5.3 and 24.0±4.1 years. Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the depression scores (P>0.38) and role realization scores (P>0.40) of the subjects in the two groups; however, after the intervention, both scores showed significant differences (PImplications for Practice: The intervention based on the self-management empowerment model led to significant improvement in depression and maternal role realization of the primiparae with hospitalized infant. This model can serve as a directive in neonatal wards and neonatal intensive care units.