Adaptation to pregnancy and motherhood among subfecund and fecund primiparous women.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effects of infertility treatment on women's ability to adapt to pregnancy and motherhood.

METHODS

Fecund (n = 261) and subfecund (n = 103) primiparous women receiving obstetrical care in southeastern Michigan participated in this descriptive, correlational, prospective study. The subjects completed Lederman's Pre-Natal Self-Evaluation questionnaire during the third trimester of pregnancy and Lederman's Postpartum Self-Evaluation questionnaire during the first postpartum appointment.

FINDINGS

Mean scores showed that the two groups of women were not significantly different with either adaptation to pregnancy or motherhood.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Although subfecund women may experience stress in order to achieve a pregnancy, there do not appear to be any latent effects of this stress on their ability to adapt to pregnancy or motherhood.