The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between postpartum care performance and postpartum health status.

The study subjects were 82 mothers who delivered full-term infants at 3 hospitals at P city. Data were collected for their health status at the postpartum unit and the sample was followed up to 6 weeks postpartum to collect postpartum care performance and health status.

Mothers rated postpartum care performance as moderate to high and especially rated the maternal role attainment the highest. Mothers experienced 4 physical symptoms and moderate levels of fatigue. In addition, they experienced moderate levels of positive affect and low levels of negative affect at both times. Canonical correlation revealed that postpartum care performance was related to postpartum health status with 2 significant canonical variables. The first variate indicated that mothers who performed hospitality, physical and emotional recovery, self-caring, and role attainment well showed higher positive affects, lower negative affects, fewer physical symptoms, and lower levels of fatigue. The second variate showed that the greater the performance of caring and physical and emotional recovery, the fewer physical symptoms and lower levels of fatigue.

Although Korean traditional postpartum care performance was related to postpartum health status, the further study is needed to identify the causal relationship between them. Nurses need to integrate the perspective of westernized postpartum care and Korean traditional views of postpartum approach to maintain and promote women's health better.