A mãe no cuidado do recém-nascido na Unidade De Terapia Intensiva Neonatal

Abstract

The goal of this study is to analyze mothers participation when caring for her newborn staying at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Sofia Feldman Hospital. The subjects of the study were 12 mothers and 11 health professionals who help to provide care for newborns at the NICU. The study used qualitative methodology with dialectics theoretical-methodological orientation. Data was gathered through participant observation and interviews, with participant observation being the centre of the whole process. Interviews were done with mothers who took part in the observation and with professionals who were identified as key-informers through situations observed and interviews. Speech Analysis was used for treating and analyzing data, from which the following empirical categories and sub-categories came out: Mother taking care of the child staying in NICU: development of the process of maternal stay at the Institution; acknowledgement of the importance of mothers presence; what mothers feel and want; the doing and the place of mothers at NICU; limits for mothers participation when taking care of her child at NICU; Building maternal care: possibilities and challenges. Data gathered showed that the presence of mothers belongs to the history of the institution and it is the result of acknowledging maternal importance for child development and of the institutional decision of ensuring the right the newborn has to have someone who stays with him/her. Information on clinical conditions of newborns is one of the main needs for the mother, but it has not yet been incorporated into the daily practice provided by health professionals. From their actions, mothers build up a place and a process of doing when caring for their child at NICU, showing other dimensions of care and other possibilities of participation. The fact that there are some types of care that can be done both by the mother and by health professionals causes conflicts and tensions, and both mothers and professionals try to exercise their power. Mothers participation in caring for their children at NICU is not something which has been systematized, but it must be built on a daily basis. This requires changes in the way professionals plan and carry out the care they provide. At the institution where the study took place, it was clear that the strategies that favor mothers participation do not guarantee that full participation, indicating the need to continue and extend these studies in order to solidify the already existing initiatives that favor this practice and to build new possibilities for mothers participation in caring for their child. Mothers express these new possibilities for their participation as a wish and as a need, whereas health professionals describe them as a possibility and as a challenge.