Mothers’Experience of Attachment Care Prior to the Genetic Diagnosis for Their Newborn Infant with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Some congenital malformations can be diagnosed during pregnancy, but many others are suspected after birth and genetic testing is conducted in neonatal setting. Parents have to take care of their children in an uncertain situation until the diagnosis is confirmed. The aim of this study was to clarify the mothers’awareness and its related factors of neonatal care they receive before having genetic testing for their infants with suspected congenital anormaly.

In this cross-sectional study, 59 mothers who have children with Down syndrome completed a questionnaire through family peer support associations. As the results of factor analysis, mothers’awareness of nurses’facilitation of parental attachment consisted of three categories；support to mothers in understanding their baby and information sharing；support for mother-child attachment；nurses’attitude to mothers. Mothers perceived nurses’attitudes to them as positive experiences describing；nurses provided care with non-biased attitude（76%），nurses helped mothers to be aware of their child’s growth（85%），and nurses honored mothers’will in childcare（63%）．However, less than 40% of mothers felt positive about nurses’support for mother-child attachment such as touching and hugging. As the related factors of their awareness, parity and hospitalization in NICU/GCU were significantly associated with support in understanding their baby and information sharing. Timing of nurses’explanation to mothers and respiratory care of infant were associated with nurses’ attitude to mothers. The study indicates that nurses should provide quality information and facilitate parental attachment depending on the infants’symptoms and mothers’background and concerns.