Adaptation to High-Risk Childbearing: Extension of a Preliminary Situation-Specific Theory with Focus on Psychological State and Functional Status

Introduction: Little is known about expectant and new parents’ psychological experiences of high-risk childbearing. Objective: The paper is a report analyses of data from a Roy Adaptation Model-guided pilot study of women’s and their male partners’ adaptation to high-risk childbearing and thereby extends a preliminary situation-specific theory of adaptation to high-risk childbearing. Materials and methods: A previous paper was a comprehensive report of the results of the pilot study except for psychological state, measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised. The additional data analyses reported in this paper are for effect sizes of correlations between the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised subscales and maternal and paternal functional status inventories. Results: Correlations of small (r = 0.1), medium (r = 0.3), and large (r = 0.5) effect sizes were found for the measures of psychological state and functional status for both women and their male partners except for psychological state positive affect and maternal functional status during the postpartum, and psychological state anxiety and paternal functional status during the postpartum. Conclusions: Overall, no substantial differences were found in psychological state and functional status for women and their male partners during pregnancy and the postpartum. The findings of this secondary data analysis constitute an extension of the preliminary situation-specific theory reported in a previously published paper.