The Perceived Health Needs of Primiparous Mothers Referring to Primary Health Care Centers: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Shahin Salarvand,1 Masoumeh-Sadat Mousavi,2 Darya Esmaeilbeigy,3 Farahnaz Changaee,4 Mohammad Almasian5 1Hepatitis Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran; 2Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; 3Student Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran; 4Social determinants of Health Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran; 5Department of the English Language, Faculty of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, IranCorrespondence: Darya EsmaeilbeigyStudent Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, IranEmail [email protected]: Since the first step in meeting the health needs of primiparous women involves understanding their conditions, the present study aimed to determine the health needs of primiparous women from their own viewpoints.Methods: This study had a qualitative approach based on the conventional qualitative content analysis method, in which the purposive sampling method was used. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews. Data saturation was achieved by interviewing 12 participants. To ensure the study was rigorous, the four criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were taken into account.Results: The findings of this study consisted of 150 codes, 19 subcategories, and 6 categories, as follows: 1) the intense need for social support, 2) the need for prior preparation for pregnancy, 3) fears and worries, 4) the necessity of the availability of the needed infrastructures and requirements in the health center, 5) falling in love with the baby, and 6) seeking information from appropriate sources.Conclusion: The present study showed that primiparous women need to receive more social and psychological support from family members and healthcare workers and that it is essential to improve the available infrastructures and services in healthcare centers and to provide the needed counseling to pregnant mothers to enable them to go through the pregnancy period smoothly.Keywords: health needs, primiparous mothers, primary health care

Keywords

• health needs
• primiparous mothers
• primary health care.