Exploring the Relationship between Maternal Health Literacy, Parenting Self-Efficacy, and Early Parenting Practices among Low-Income Mothers with Infants

Objective. To explore the association of maternal health literacy (MHL), parenting self-efficacy and early parenting practices among low-income mothers with infants. Design. A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design. Participants. Low-income mothers (N=186) with infants. Methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using English and Spanish versions of questionnaires by trained bilingual research assistants. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) screening tool was used to measure MHL. Results. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of mothers were rated as having low MHL. In the bivariate analysis, MHL was positively correlated with education, household income, language, social support, parenting self-efficacy, and early parenting practices, but negatively correlated with number of children. The study findings demonstrate that parenting self-efficacy had a mediating effect on MHL and early parenting practices among mothers with infants. Conclusion. Results suggest that future research is needed to advance MHL in low-income mothers and to inform potential HL interventions for this target population.