Date of Graduation

12-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Nursing

Advisor/Mentor

Richardson, Emily

Committee Member/Reader

Ballentine, Hope

Abstract

Background: Continual support for the birthing person during labor improves delivery outcomes and overall childbirth experiences. How many support people are present and their relation to the birthing person varies based on individual preference, family dynamics, and sociocultural expectations. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many hospitals implemented a one-visitor policy for deliveries. With these new guidelines in place, the length of hospital stays significantly decreased, and there were a variety of opinions towards these restrictions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore birthing persons’ overall sentiment towards visitors in the immediate postpartum period.

Methods: The current study analyzed comments from a photo-based social media post. The original post, which received 94,198 likes and 1557 comments, said, “Can we normalize giving mothers time to rest and recuperate after giving birth and allowing them time to bond with their baby? People are so eager to see a new baby that they forget about the mother and what she has just been through-mentally and physically.” A codebook was developed to assess the overall sentiment of visitation policies enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Each comment was independently coded by two coders; kappa values ranged from 0.97-1. Frequencies of codes were reported.

Results: Of those who mentioned Covid-19 (n= 114), 99% of the commentors were in favor of the visitor restrictions. The overall sentiment towards the post was divided into neutral (14.8%), agree (74.95%), disagree (7.7%), and normalize the birthing person communicating their boundaries (1.3%).

Discussion: Public opinion can influence policy and practice. Based on the overall sentiment of the commentors, there was an overwhelming agreeance proving the need for further research to be conducted to distinguish the importance of support roles in the delivery versus postpartum periods.

Keywords

postpartum; visitation; policies; health; nursing; opinion

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