The process of maternal role attainment in preterm mothers

Abstract

Object
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors involved in the process of maternal role attainment and the interactions between those factors in preterm mothers.
Subjects
The subjects of this study were seven first-time mothers ranging from 25 to 34 years with a mean of 29.7. The subjects delivered their babies after 29 to 35 gestational weeks. Birthweights ranged from 836-1458 grams. The infants had been home from the NICU 9-16months at the first time of the interviews. All of them did not have serious medical problems, developmental delays at the time of discharge from the NICU.
Methods
The design was descriptive, using a grounded theory approach. Data derived fromsemi-structured interviews was examined by constant comparative analysis after each interviewwas transcribed.
Results
Five categories were identified in the process of maternal role attainment in this study:“Loss of expectati ons that the birth will be normal one”, “Grieving caused by unfulfilled expectation”, “Adaptation to the maternal role ”, “The search for normal ‘parent and baby’ images”, “The development of support networks for maternal role attainment”. The finding categories, “Grieving caused by unfulfilled expectation”, “Adaptation to the maternal role”, “The search for normal ‘pa rent and baby’ images”, are interacted with each other in the process of maternal role attainment mothers during first year.“The search for normal ‘parent and baby’ images”, which is considered as a core category in this result, includes a series of a coping strategies that eases the negative feelings resulting from having preterm babies. These strategies involve downward comparison, lateral comparison, searching for meaning in times of crisis, and normalization.
Conclusions
These results contribute to the knowledge of maternal role attainment in preterm mothers and suggest the importance of approaches that enhance the mother's ability to use coping strategies.