MONTANHAUR, Carolina Daniel; RODRIGUES, Olga Maria Piazentin Rolim    ARENALES, Nadja Guazzi. Babies admitted in neonatal units: characterization and maternal perception of the situation. []. , 40, 99, pp.241-251. ISSN 1415-711X.

During pregnancy, parents are concerned about the baby's health, integrity and appearance. These concerns turn into fear and concern when this baby presents a health problem and needs more care or, even, the admission to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They start experiencing new situations such as the news of hospitalization and the hospital environment that arouse ambiguous feelings in their parents. The objective was to describe and to compare the maternal feelings and perception about the moment of the news, the baby's condition and future perspectives, considering the mothers' positive and negative feelings during hospitalization.The study included 16 mothers who gave birth to babies who needed immediate admission to the NICU who answered the sociodemographic questionnaire and the "Protocol for assessing maternal perception about the condition of the baby admitted to the NICU". The results pointed to an initial negative perception about the news of the hospitalization, triggered by negative feelings, support from the father and family and clarity of the information brought by the health team. There was a positive perception regarding the health condition, time and sequelae of hospitalization. There is a change in the maternal perception of the news for the experience of hospitalization due to characteristics of the mother (stable union and education), of the baby (late prematurity and length of hospital stay) and social support offered by the family and professionals.

: perception; mothers; babies; Intensive Care Unit; hospitalization.

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