Mothers’ experiences of premature birth

Abstract

Premature birth is an obstetrical emergency that is a global concern. Preventing complications and saving the baby’s life before, during and after the premature birth has been noted to be the main goal of healthcare practitioners. It has been found through studies that the delivering mother who is at the centre of the premature birth is at times not given the attention and support she deserves. This study therefore reports the findings related to the experiences of mothers during premature birth so as to provide the mothers with this much- needed attention. The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of mothers relating to premature birth and the premature infant and to make recommendations which could be utilised by midwives when caring for mothers who experienced premature birth. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design was employed in this study. Twelve purposively sampled prematurelydelivered mothers were interviewed and Tesch’s data analysis method was adopted. The participants had experienced the premature birth as unexpected and traumatic; but positive support from family members, nurses and midwives had been used as a coping mechanism. Different forms of support should be provided by healthcare practitioners throughout the premature birth to help mothers cope with their emotional experiences and family involvement should also be encouraged throughout the period of premature birth.

Keywords: Experiences, labour, mother, premature birth, premature infant.