Women 16 pc less likely to be well post-delivery when cared for by mothers-in-law, study finds

Women who are cared for by mothers-in-law following childbirth are 16 per cent less likely to be well post-delivery, compared to those cared for by mothers, a study of 551 mother-caregiver pairs in India has found.

Findings also reveal that the new mothers in less than a third of the pairs studied reported being involved in making decisions on infant care and themselves.

Researchers from US' University of California, YosAid Innovation Foundation and a non-profit Noora Health India Private Limited in Bengaluru, said the findings improve our understanding of how caregivers can impact a woman's post-delivery care in India.

The study, published in the journal PLOS One, also provides ''new insights into how caregiving and decision-making responsibilities are distributed within families,'' the team said.

The participants were recruited from a larger sample of 18,436 women who delivered in 28 district hospitals across Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab between September 2018 and May 2020.

These women responded to a survey one month after being discharged from a hospital post-delivery. Data of 551 pairs of mother-caregiver were eventually analysed.

''Birthing women whose caregivers are mothers-in-law are 16.2 per cent less likely to be well post-delivery,'' the authors wrote.

The researchers found that well-being among women ''when their primary caregiver is their own mother'' post-delivery was higher, compared to those who had their mothers-in-law as the caregiver.

In terms of post-delivery care of the infant and the mother, on an average 70 per cent of a household's decisions are either made by the mother herself or one of the caregivers such as the father, maternal grandmother, or paternal grandmother of the newborn.

Further, across the pairs studied, the mother of the newborn was more likely to name their caregiver as the sole decision-maker for the infant's care and their own, compared to other members of the household, the researchers said.

The team found that the involvement of new mothers in household decision-making is low, with less than a third among them reporting involvement in neither the infant's care nor her own.

The findings ''enhance our understanding of the gendered role of caregivers in postnatal care in India, providing new insights into how caregiving and decision-making responsibilities are distributed within families,'' the authors said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)