Marin FB, Alonso VA, Izquierdo SB, Suárez GN

Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 25-40
PDF size: 391.31 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: hospitalization presupposes a crisis on family life; both because of the health condition that it generates and the magnitude associated with the fact of requiring hospitalization, along with the modification of the child’s normal routine.
Objective: to describe the psychological repercussions that presuppose the hospitalization of severely and critically-ill newborn babies for the accompanying mother in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Abel Santamaria Cuadrado General Teaching Hospital in Pinar del Rio during the month of February and the first two weeks of March 2015.
Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The target group was comprised of 19 accompanying mothers with newborn babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit; the sample included 13 accompanying mothers selected by intentional and non-intentional probabilistic sampling.
Results: a diversity of psychological responses was observed in the accompanying mothers: fear, depression and anxiety (28.9%, 22.2% and 20% respectively) which appeared to be predominant. Self-accusation and approval of disease (2.2%) were not frequent. The existence of mothers showing signs of evasion and denial before the event should be noted (8.9%), abstaining to visit the Unit frequently and their infants in some circumstances.
Conclusions: many events were observed matching to the processes of in-hospital experience and due to the severe condition of the newborn baby. Only secondary education was completed by most of the mothers included in the study, as well as low-weight at birth and prematurity. Mothers need a qualified and psychological follow-up along with the insertion of the rest of the family members supporting the event of hospitalization as active participants.