Abstract

SCIOTTI, Luísa Teixeira  and  CARIAS, Antonio Richard. The baby who never went home: mothers’ perceptions of death in the Neonatal ICU. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2024, vol.27, e005.  Epub Oct 28, 2024. ISSN 1516-0858.  https://doi.org/10.57167/rev-sbph.v27.626.

Neonatal death changes the order of socially presupposed losses, facilitating intense emotional vulnerability for mothers. The routine in the Neonatal ICU often impacts the construction of the emotional bond between mother and baby, especially when coexistence occurred exclusively in this environment before the death of the newborn. Therefore, the present study aimed to understand the emotional experience of mothers faced with the death of their newborn baby in the Neonatal ICU. To achieve this proposal, qualitative research of an experiential and interpretative nature was carried out. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were carried out and a sociodemographic/obstetric questionnaire was applied to five mothers who narrated their experiences regarding the illness and death of their newborn. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed in full for data analysis. The results were examined through thematic analysis, which resulted in the creation of five categories that reveal these women’s perceptions about neonatal death. Each category contains meanings about the journey of these women’s experiences, as well as characteristics of the suffering experienced. We hope that this study will contribute to the multidisciplinary care of mothers who only live with their babies in the ICU of a hospital.

Keywords : Neonatology; Grief; Mothers.

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