Exploring the needs of women with normal vaginal deliveries during the postpartum period in China: a longitudinal qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: To explore the changes in needs among postpartum women and provide a reference for the development of scientific and effective targeted nursing interventions. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal qualitative study of 18 postpartum women who initially experienced normal vaginal deliveries in China. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling method, and semi-structured interviews were conducted at twenty-four hours, three days, two weeks, and forty-two days during the postpartum period. The study was designed using a phenomenological approach and the data were analyzed using a social-ecological framework. RESULTS: The study extracted three main themes and eleven subthemes: the micro system (including needs for scientific newborn care guidance, needs for nursing of maternal physiological discomfort, needs for breastfeeding guidance, and Needs for dynamic psychological care of Postpartum), the meso system (including needs for single - room of the ward environment, needs for online consultation after discharge, needs for health education for family members), and the macro system (including needs for birth certificate policy optimization, needs for comprehensive guidance on vaccination, needs for home visit to optimize, and needs for standardized education implementation and personalized, dynamic learning). CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the needs of women who have undergone normal vaginal delivery undergo a dynamic change process. Consequently, clinical medical staff should develop health education programs and provide personalized and precise interventions based on varying needs at different stages of the postpartum period.