TTLA: Women's adaptation to motherhood after childbirth

1. Full nameNguyen Thi Chinh

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: 28/01/1984

4. Place of birthBac Giang

5. Decision to admit doctoral studentsDecision No. 2999/2013/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 30, 2013.

6. Changes in the training process:Extension from January 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018 (23 months)

7. Thesis title:Women's adaptation to motherhood after giving birth.

8. Major:Psychology

9. Code: 62 31 04 01

10. Scientific supervisor:Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Minh Duc

11. Summarize the new findings in the thesis:

- The thesis has summarized four main trends in research on postpartum women's adaptation to motherhood worldwide today, including: (1) Indicators of adaptation to motherhood, (2) The process of postpartum women's adaptation to motherhood, (3) Postpartum women's mental health issues, and (4) Factors affecting adaptation to motherhood.

- The thesis has developed a theoretical framework on postpartum women's adaptation to motherhood, particularly focusing on analyzing Romana Mercer's "Achieving Motherhood" model. From this, the thesis constructs a conceptual framework for the topic: Postpartum women's adaptation to motherhood comprises three basic aspects: satisfaction with motherhood, self-confidence in motherhood, and responsive behavior to motherhood.

- The scale, consisting of 46 items with three dimensions (satisfaction, confidence, and behaviors fulfilling the role of motherhood), was assessed for reliability and validity using SPSS software, demonstrating that it is a tool capable of quantitatively evaluating adaptation to the role of motherhood.

- The thesis indicates that child development characteristics, maternal psychological characteristics, and social support are all correlated and have a cause-and-effect relationship with postpartum adaptation in women. The strongest correlations are observed in child satisfaction, child characteristics, and resources supporting postpartum motherhood. These are also the three strongest predictors of postpartum adaptation in women.

- The thesis shows that psychological counseling is an effective intervention method that helps mothers improve their adaptation to their role as mothers.

12. Practical applications:

This dissertation can be used as a reference for researchers, professionals, and students in the fields of Social Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and Family Psychology.

13. Future research directions

The topic also raises several issues that need to be further explored in subsequent research, such as: adaptation to motherhood during different stages of motherhood (longitudinal study), adaptation to motherhood in postpartum women with special characteristics such as early childbirth or older age, the relationship between personality traits and adaptation to motherhood, etc.

14. Research studies related to the results of the thesis:

1. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2017), “Overview of the theory on the concept of adaptation in psychology”,Journal of Education and Society(10), pp. 33-36.

2. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2017), “Level of adaptation to motherhood among postpartum women and socio-demographic differences”,Journal of Psychology(12), pp. 88-99.

3. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2018), “Some adaptations to the role of motherhood in postpartum women (0-12 months)”,Journal of Social Psychologyi (1), pp.59-64.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Nguyen Thi Chinh 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: January 28, 1984 4. Place of birth: Bac Giang Province

5. Extending study time from January 1, 2017 to November 20, 2018 (23 months)Admission decision number: 2999/2013/QD- XHNV- SĐH, dated December 30, 2013.

6. Changes in acadamic process

7. Official thesis title: Women's maternal role adaptation in postpartum period

8. Major: Psychology

9. Code: 62 31 04 01

10. Supervisors: 1. Prof., Ph.D. Tran Thi Minh Duc

11. Summary of new findings of the thesis

- The thesis has generalized four main trends in research on motherhood adaptation for postpartum women in the world today, included: (1) Indicators of maternal role adaptation, (2) Process of maternal role adaptation, (3) Mental health issues of postpartum and (4) Factors circulating maternal role adaptation.

- The thesis has built a theoretical system of maternal role adaptation, especially deeply analyzed the model Maternal role Attainment of Romana Mercer. Thereby the thesis builds the key concept of maternal role adaptation in postpartum period, including three basic expressions: maternal satisfaction, maternal confidence, and responsible behaviors of maternal role.

- Scale of 46 items with three aspects (satisfaction, self-confidence and mother-responsive behavior) is assessed for reliability and validity by SPSS software, which is a tool to assess maternal role adaptation quantitatively.

- The thesis shows that the developmental characteristics of child, the psychological characteristics of mother and social support have a correlated and causal relationship with the maternal role adaptation. In particular, the strongest correlation is the factor of satisfaction of children, characteristics of children and resources to support motherhood. These are also the three most powerful predictors for the adaptation in postpartum.

- The thesis shows that psychological counseling is an effective way of intervention, helping mothers improve their adaptation as a mother.

12. Practical applicability:

The thesis can be used as a reference for researchers, experts and students in the fields of Social Psychology and Counseling Psychology, Family Psychology.

13. Future research directions, if any:

The thesis also suggests a number of issues that need to be further expanded, such as: maternal role adaptation during motherhood periods (vertical study), adaptation to maternal roles of women who have special characteristics such as early or older childbirth, the relationship between personality traits and adaptation to motherhood, ...

14. Thesis-related publications

1. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2017), “A little review on theories of adaptation in psychology”,Journal of Education and Society(10), pp. 33-36.

2. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2017), “Level of postpartum maternal role adaptation and the difference of social demographic”,Journal of Psychology(12), pp. 88-99.

3. Nguyen Thi Chinh (2018), Some expressions of maternal role adaptation in postpartum (0-12 months,Journal of Social Psychology(1), pp. 59-64.