Objective: To identify women's major physiologic, psychologic, and life-style concerns at 2 and 8 weeks after cesarean delivery.
Design: Descriptive study with open-ended interviews.
Setting: Large urban hospital affiliated with a major university.
Participants: One hundred six women who had unplanned cesarean deliveries and delivered live, full-term neonates. The mean maternal age was 28.7 years.
Main outcome measures: The major physiologic, psychologic, and life-style concerns.
Results: Seven women reported no concerns at both data points. The number of physiologic concerns that the women expressed decreased markedly from 2 to 8 weeks postdelivery, but the number of psychologic and life-style concerns did not.
Conclusions: These findings reinforce the need for prenatal teaching and postnatal follow-up regarding these concerns.