Table 1.

Summary of variables included in the analysis

Variable	Measure	Categories	Coding
Sector of birth facility	Did you have your baby in a private or public facility?	1. Public hospital or public birth centre	Missing data was imputed by using other responses pertaining to their birth hospital and public or private status.
		2. Private hospital or private birth centre
		3. Don’t know
Postpartum care	In the first 10 days of being at home with your baby, did any of the following happen?	1. I was telephoned by a midwife or nurse	Women could nominate multiple contacts. Responses 1 and 2 were deemed to have been proactively delivered by the health service.
		2. I was visited at home by a midwife or nurse	Responses 3 and 4 were deemed to have been initiated by the women.
		3. I visited a midwife or nurse	Women whose babies had not come home were not included in the analysis.
		4. I visited a general practitioner (GP)
		5. None of the above
		6. My baby hasn’t come home yet
Access to 24-hour support	When you were at home after the birth of your baby, did you have the name and contact details of a care provider you could get in touch with at any hour if you were worried?	1. Yes
		2. No
Length of hospital stay	Altogether, how long did you stay in the hospital or birth centre where your baby was born?	1. Nights	The variable was transformed into a categorical variable consisting of four groups: <24 hours, 1–2 nights, 3–4 nights, 5+ nights. Women whose babies were born at home were not included in the analysis.
		2. Hours
		3. I had my baby at home
Satisfaction with the amount of postnatal care	Thinking about the amount of contact you had with care providers since having your baby, in your opinion, was this…	1. Too much?	‘About right’ was coded as satisfied with amount of postnatal care and ‘too much’ and ‘too little’ was coded as not satisfied with amount of postnatal care.
		2. Too little?
		3. About right?
Parenting confidence	When you first had your new baby at home, how confident did you feel about looking after him or her?	1. Extremely confident	‘Extremely confident’ was coded as confident, and ‘fairly confident’ to ‘not at all confident’ was coded as not confident. This categorisation was chosen to reflect an optimal outcome in parenting confidence.
		2. Fairly confident
		3. Confident
		4. Not very confident
		5. Not at all confident
		6. My baby hasn’t come home yet
Feeling depressed	How often have you experienced feeling depressed since having your baby?	1. Never	Women were coded as having experienced feeling depressed since their birth if they responded ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’
		2. Rarely
		3. Sometimes
		4. Often
		5. Does not apply to me
Maternal age at time of birth of the baby	What was your date of birth?		Age was derived from maternal date of birth and date of birth of the baby and coded as <20, 20–24, 25–29, 30–34, 35–39, ≥40
	When was your baby born?
Identification as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person	Which of the following best describes you?	1. Aboriginal	The variable was coded as ATSI culture yes, no.
		2. Torres Strait Islander
		3. South Sea Islander
		4. None of the above
Country of birth	Where were you born?	1. Australia
		2. Other country
Level of education	What is the highest level of qualification you have completed?	1. No formal qualifications	The variable was transformed into four categories: Year 10 (responses 1 and 2), Year 12 (response 3), Trade/diploma (responses 4 and 5) and university (responses 6 and 7)
		2. Year 10 or equivalent
		3. Year 12 or equivalent
		4. Trade/apprenticeship
		5. Certificate/diploma
		6. University degree
		7. Postgraduate degree
Area of residence	In what town or suburb was your usual place of residence you’re your baby was born?		Area of residence was calculated from postcode using Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia and classified as City, inner regional, outer regional and remote.
	What is the postcode of this town or suburb?