Family demands and resources in adapting to home care for preterm babies from the maternal perspective

Abstract

Objective: to examine family demands and resources in adapting to care for preterm babies at home from the maternal perspective. Method: qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study guided by the theoretical framework of Resilience, Stress, Adjustment and Family Adaptation. Twenty-two mothers of children whose gestational age at birth was less than 32 weeks were interviewed. The mothers acted as informants on the daily dynamics of the family for the care of preterm babies. The MAXQDA© software was used to support the thematic analysis. Results: from the maternal perspective, the family demands identified were increased household chores, constant dedication and care for the child, greater availability of time to attend health care appointments, less social contact and purchase of products for child care. To meet the demands, the family used its own resources, such as spirituality, financial resources and reorganization of the routine, as well as external resources, such as access to health services and the support network, represented by the family and its members individually. Conclusion: demands require effort to be met, indicating that they can contribute to increased family tension and changes in daily life; however, the families' own and external resources contributed to coping with the situations experienced. In practice, nurses' recognition of demands allows them to direct actions to identify and use family resources seeking their adaptation.