Confidence and mastery as mothers
Mothers’ feelings of success at their mothering role contributes to overall maternal wellbeing, which in turn supports long-term health and wellbeing for children, beginning in infancy. But which everyday mothering occupations evoke feelings of confidence and mastery for mothers? Sorcha Odgers investigated the relationships between occupation and positive wellbeing in mothers with infants, through her Master of Occupational Therapy.
A list of mothering occupations was compiled through literature and participant input via an anonymous survey. Using the Delphi method, a panel of mothers ranked these occupations from most to least effective at evoking feelings of confidence and mastery in their own mothering. The group was then shown the collective rankings, and asked to re-rank the list. This process produced a list of ten occupations that were consistently ranked highest by these mothers.
Mothers value intimate interactions with their babies for developing their maternal confidence, such as watching and touching and reading to their baby. Other occupations like bathing, feeding, and taking the baby to places, did not make the top ten. This knowledge of how occupation influences maternal confidence and mastery has implications for health and societal policy around how mothers can be supported to engage in co-occupations with their infants.