Congenital malformation: the significance of the parents’ experience

Abstract

Health professionals must interact with families, seeking to strenghten the mother-son-father connection during the admittance period. This reality lead us to consider the feelings that involve parents and their babies born with malformation, leading us to attempt to understand the meaning of being the parent of a child with congenital malformation. This descriptive, exploratory and qualitative study was carried out in a public maternity ward, and through home interviews in Fortaleza-CE. Seven couples whose babies were born with malformation and were admitted into the neonatal unit in June 2006 took part in the research. From this discussion; we came up with the following themes: the reactions upon seeing the child with malformation for the first time; fear; maturity. The birth of a malformed baby causes reactions such as suffering, shock, pain, sadness and grief, and turns out to be a remarkable experience for all family members. The health care team must be sympathetic, offer good communication, empathy and respect during the care process.