Longitudinal study of postpartum women knowledge needs--parity and time series perspectives

The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge needs of postpartum women. A postpartum knowledge needs questionnaire was administered to 70 postpartum women during the 1st and 4th week postpartum. Data were analyzed by factor analysis to determine the relationships within categories of knowledge needs. Data were also analyzed by 2-factor repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). The two factors included parity and time (period of measurement). The results indicated that the knowledge needs of postpartum women can be categorized as follows: (1) Knowledge of caring for the baby, (2) Knowledge of caring for one's self and (3) Knowledge of caring for other family members. The women during the 1st week postpartum reported a significantly higher need in knowledge of infant care than women during the 4th week postpartum. Multiparas showed a significantly higher need in knowledge of caring for other family members than primiparas.