Comparison of effects of home visits and routine postpartum care on the healthy behaviors of Iranian low-risk mothers

Background: postpartum care at home is a post delivery care method that can be provided by public health nurses,trained health workers,or midwifery nurses. a study conducted to compare effect of two midwife visits at home to usual postpartum care on the healthy behaviors of low-risk iranian mothers. methods: a randomized controlled trial conducted on 200 mothers at a reference center for screening for infant hypothyroidism in tehran. mothers were randomized to either home-based (n = 100) or routine-based postpartum care (n = 100). each mother and her neonate received two cares. home-based cares were provided by a midwife in the intervention group. postpartum cares in the control group were provided by care providers of primary health care system. healthy behavior was measured using a validated and reliable researcher made instrument. the data were analyzed using independent sample t-tests,paired t-test,and χ2-test. results: the data showed that a significant number of subjects in the control group did not receive their postpartum care (p < 0.001). the mean score of maternal healthy behaviors in the intervention group increased from 120.5 (se = 0.76) to 148.9 (se = 1.02) (p < 0.001) and in the control group from 119.9 (se = 1.06) to 140.9 (se = 1.08) (p < 0.001). the mean score of maternal healthy behaviors in the intervention group had significant differences with that in the control group at the end of study (p < 0.001). conclusion: early postpartum care at home by trained midwives can be positively effective for improving maternal healthy behaviors in less developed countries.