This study is designed to investigate the relationship between first-time-mother postpartum parenting education and its effectiveness on the quality of mother–infant interaction and in turn, sense changes of parenting competence.

Eighty-one healthy first-time-mother infant dyads were recruited. The control group (n = 40) received normal postpartum care, being the medical and cultural norms practiced in Taiwan. The experimental group (n = 41) received extra education by way of a 40-minute videotape on infant states, behaviors, communication cues, and a handout about play practices. Data was collected at five time periods: around first week, followed by the first, second, third and sixth month after birth. Assessment scales used for this study were the Chinese Version of the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (C-PSOC), the Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), in order to score videotaped mother-infant interactions.

The results of the study between these two groups showed that there was an increase in the quality of mother–infant interaction within the experiential group. In addition, it was found that at the five points of assessment, there were no significant sense changes of parenting competency and no significant differences in postpartum depression. For all subjects, there was a correlation between postpartum depressions, competency in parenting, and quality of mother–infant interaction.

Study results prove that first-time-mothers in Taiwan who are provided extra educations about infant abilities, as well as how to effectively play with babies, are likely to witness an improvement in interactional quality.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.