Impact of Total Workload on Maternal Postpartum Health and Quality of Life. Report for September 30, 1999 to September 29, 2004.

摘要

Mothers with infants are one of the fastest growing segments of the labor force. National estimates reveal that about half of all American women with infants were in the labor force in 2002 (Downs, 2003). While it is well established that women face physical and psychological changes in pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum, relatively little evidence exists to document the effects of employment and work organization characteristics on women's health at periods of heightened vulnerability such as after childbirth. With many new mothers returning to work relatively soon after childbirth, this study was designed to examine the time course for women's recovery from pregnancy and childbirth and identify factors that facilitate the merger of working and parenting during the first 18 months after childbirth. This was a prospective longitudinal study of employed mothers designed to identify the effects of personal and employment characteristics, job stress and role conflicts on maternal postpartum health. We enrolled 817 women (71% response rate) at the time of childbirth from selected Minnesota hospitals in 2001 who met sample selection criteria including: giving birth to a singleton, healthy infant; English-speaking; 18 years of age or older, employed during pregnancy, and planning to return to work after childbirth. At enrollment, demographic and medical information was abstracted from mothers' charts and eligible women were interviewed.