The data were collected by using self-report questionnaire from April 1 to May 31, 2001.

Subjects were 68 mothers who opted the rooming-in choice and 98 mothers who did not choose the rooming-in at one hospital in Seoul, Korea. They all had NSVD.

The research questionnaire consisted of 36 items on general chracteristics and 30 items on postpartum fatigue developed by Pugh (1993).

The data were analyzed by using the SPSS 10.0 window program.

The results of this study were as follow:

1. There was significant statistical difference in general characteristics between rooming-in and non rooming-in groups in prenatal class attendance (χ²=3.935, p=0.047), maternal fetal attachment score (t=2.130, p=0.035), husband attendance during the labor and delivery (χ²=9.147, p=0.002), breast feeding (χ²=12.503, p=0.000), and self feeding time including bottle feeding (t=4.588, p=0.000).

2. There was no significant statistical difference in the level of total fatigue score between two groups (t=0.282, p=0.780).

3. The physical and neurosensory fatigue scores were slightly higher in rooming-in group (21.63±4.92, 18.53±4.60) than those (20.71±5.78, 18.23±5.39) of non rooming-in group. And the phychological fatigue score was slightly higher in non rooming-in group (17.67±4.95) than that (17.04±4.63) of rooming-in group. However, there was no significant statistical difference in the level of three sub-dimension fatigue between two groups (t=1.068, p=0.287; t=-0.827, p=0.410; t=0.368, p=0.714).

4. Even after controlling characteristics showed significant differences between two groups, there was no significant statistical difference in the level of fatigue between two groups (F=0.135, p=0.714).

According to this study, there was no significant statistical difference in the level of postpartum fatigue whether they were rooming-in or not. Based on this result, the common notion of rooming-in mothers will be more fatigue than non rooming-in mothers is proved to be false.

However, it is necessary to develop appropriate nursing interventions to meet the need of mothers who decide to rooming-in.