Faces of care given to the extremely premature infants at home - doi: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v9i2.11235

Abstract

The hospital discharge of a child born prematurely generates various feelings in the family. It involves the reorganization of the family and an emotional adjustment, mainly from the part of the mother who is the main caregiver. This study aimed to know the difficulties, facilities and concerns in the care given to extremely premature infants at home. It was used a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory approach. The subjects were three mothers of extremely premature children born between October 2005 and June 2006 at the University Hospital of the city of Rio Grande-RS. The data were collected in the homes of the subjects, through participant observation, semi-structured interview. The results showed that the difficulties are differentiated by maternal presence during hospitalization and the need for family support. The facilities were based on experiences with the siblings and the concerns regarding the biological aspects of care. It is concluded that the professionals, inserted in the hospital, need to investigate the families and offer a support for a suitable and with quality domiciliary adaptation.