Objectives: To examine the factors influencing maternal role performance including maternal perception of infant behavior, social support, maternal perception of parenting, maternal competence, and depression.
Material and Methods: The subjects selected with purposive sampling were 200 first-time mothers at one month postpartum in a regional hospital of the southern region of Thailand who met the inclusion criteria. Data were obtained through one questionnaire related to demographic data of the subjects, and six questionnaires related to study factors including the Neonatal Perception Inventory, the Social Support Scale, the What Being the Parent of a New Baby Is Like Scale, the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Maternal Role Performance Scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data.
Results: The results showed that significant factors influencing maternal role performance of women in transition to being the first-time mother were social support (β = 0.261, p < .001), maternal perception of parenting (β = 0.248, p < .001), depression (β = -0.206, p < .01), and maternal competence (β = 0.180, p < .01). Social support, maternal perception of parenting, maternal competence, and depression explained 34% of the variance in maternal role performance (R2 = 0.340, p < .001).
Conclusion: The findings supported the concept that the Transition Theory is a useful guide for explaining and predicting maternal role performance of women in transition to being the first-time mother. Nurses in postpartum wards and community nurses should have strategies and develop nursing therapeutics to promote social support, improve maternal perception of parenting, increase maternal competence, and decrease depression of first-time mothers in order to enhancing their effective maternal role performance in transition to being the first-time mother.