Effect of teaching on primiparas' perceptions of their newborn.

To determine if a relationship exists between structured, informative in-home teaching concerning infant behavior and primiparous mothers' perceptions of their newborn, 30 primiparas completed Broussard's Neonatal Perception Inventories I and II. The sample--30 women between the ages of 18 and 30 who had had no chronic disorders and had experienced normal pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartal course--was deliberately selected from a 489-bed community teaching hospital; 15 women were assigned randomly to a control group and 15 to an experimental group. All participants completed NPI I on their first or second postpartum day. Experimental participants received structured, informative teaching concerning infant behavior two to four days after discharge. All subjects were again visited at one month to complete NPI II. Data were analyzed by t test; significance was set at p = .05. No significant difference was found between the groups in NPI I perceptions. On NPI II a significantly positive change in perception was found for the experimental group, but not for the control group.