Neonatal intensive care and premature birth - maternal perceptions and coping

Abstract

Premature birth and neonatal intensive care are distressing events for mothers requiring active coping. 42 consecutive mothers of infants treated on a NICU were interviewed prospectively during the first week postpartally, after 4–6 weeks and after 5–6 months with a semistructured interview. The mothers had a high rate of previous psychosocial stressors, medical complications and past perinatal losses. The groups with infants under (VLBW) and over 1,500 g were compared. In the first postpartal week, the VLBW mothers showed a significantly higher degree of distress, fears concerning death and handicaps of the child and negative or ambivalent feelings at first contact than mothers with newborns over 1,500 g. In the next weeks, most mothers were able to cope well with social and professional support and the differences between the two groups were no longer significant. Still, fears concerning their child continued at high rates and disturbing memories occurred often, so that at least subgroups do require more intense help during the early stages of adaptation postpartally. One of the subgroups at risk are the VLBW mothers.