Maternal Emotion, A Qualitative Study

Abstract

At present, our scientific community forges onward upholding the value and contribution of scientific research and its voluminous significance to our healthcare environment. The scientific community of practitioners provides evidence based medicine through clinical trials. The necessity for investigation is preceded at the time when a severe need for intervention and information presents itself. As the neonatal population develops into a sub_population within our healthcare system, so does the scientific research base. The goal of positive outcomes remains the expectation, yet there are always exceptions to the rule. Researchers are continuously attempting to obtain key evidence to improve the lives of our extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW). As researchers propel the process of discovery into the minutest entities within the premature body, knowledge is gained pertaining to valuable therapies and treatments for optimal health within this population. The maternal state is one of the most significant factors involved in fetal development. Research has demonstrated that the physical health of the mother has a direct correlation on an infant's health outcome. The healthcare environment provides multitudes of screening and preventative measures to assist with a healthy gestational development. Within the premature population new and imperative scientific studies are conducted on a continuum of infinite forefronts. In this era of new technology one must take pause and recognize not only quantitative, scientific evidence, but the human emotion. A qualitative trial was performed in order to assess the women's experience at a time when all is supposedly well. Given the common screening event of the fetal ultrasound, the expectant mother, providing no previous knowledge, typically views this experience as a reassurance that her infant is physically sound. The impact of an event in which all is not well, is, in the best case scenario, profound. This study is qualitative and focuses on women's interactions with their caregivers at the point of initial findings that indicate an abnormal development within the fetus. The theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism was utilized as a guide for the study. This theory is one in which as human behavior