Bendigo Family Study Research at PSANZ 2025: Does Mode of Delivery Affect Parenting Confidence? A Pilot Study.

The Bendigo Family Study is pleased to report that another of our young investigators, Dr Yong Shi Zhang, successfully presented her research at PSANZ 2025 that evaluated whether mode of delivery impacted on parenting confidence in rural parents. Maternal psychopathology and self-esteem during childbirth may impact on parenting self-efficacy but there are significant cultural overlays in outcomes. It has been proposed that caesarean section birth may adversely impact upon maternal parenting and breastfeeding confidence.

The impact of delivery mode in regional and rural communities within Australia and the impact on partners is unknown.  This study aimed to assess parenting confidence of mothers who delivered by CS and their partners in relation to parenting and breastfeeding confidence.

In this case control (mothers matched for age and parity) subsidy the key findings were that:
* Breastfeeding confidence was similar between the two groups (Vaginal delivery 50.2 sd 14 vs CS 48.5 sd 15; p=0.61).
* Interestingly, new mothers reported higher parenting confidence following CS (vaginal 21.2 sd 5 vs CS 22.2 sd 5; p<0.001) but no difference was observed in parenting confidence between new fathers by delivery mode (vaginal 21.2 sd 5 vs CS 21.1 sd 6; p=0.85).

Our results are reassuring and do not support a finding that Caesarean Section mode of birth adversely impacts on breastfeeding or parenting confidence in our regional and rural parents.

regards
Professor Julie Quinlivan
Bendigo Family Study