Abstract

BORTOLIN, Denice  and  DONELLI, Tagma Marina Schneider. Maternal experiences in the first year of life of a premature baby. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2019, vol.71, n.3, pp.121-136. ISSN 1809-5267.  https://doi.org/10.36482/1809-5267.ARBP2019v71i3p.121-136.

This study aimed to understand the maternal experiences during the first year of life of a premature baby, according to Stern's Theory on the Constellation of Maternity. A longitudinal case study design was used with the participation of three mother-baby pairs. To this end, we used the Sociodemographic Data Sheet, the Clinical Data Sheet and the Maternal Clinical Interview - hospital and outpatient version, in order to investigate the expectations and feelings of mothers about motherhood, the baby and its future development. The data collected were analyzed at four different times, neonatal hospitalization, one month, four months, and at 12 months after discharge. Study results indicated that hospitalization in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was felt by mothers as a traumatic moment, difficult to elaborate. Despite the suffering, the participants claim to have developed a good relationship with the babies, and could also feel great satisfaction and happiness in exercising motherhood. Finally, it was found that the four themes of the Motherhood Constellation were impacted by the condition of prematurity, however, what most affected the mothers in this study was the theme "Life-growth", especially at the time of hospitalization in NICU.

Keywords : The Motherhood Constellation; Prematurity; Maternal experiences; Psychology.

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