LIVED EXPERIENCES OF MOTHERS WITH PRETERM BABIES ADMITTED TO THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AT MUHIMBILI NATIONAL HOSPITAL

MEDICINE

Background: The mothers and family members of preterm babies are under a lot of stress after their preterm babies are admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Because of this, healthcare providers must have a better understanding of mothers’ experiences when their babies are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Understanding the experiences of mothers with preterm babies in a hospital setting would be an initial central step to recognizing their requirements and addressing them efficiently through the provision of respectful and supportive care to them. There was a lack of information on the experiences of mothers with preterm babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Tanzania hospitals. Objective: This study aimed at describing the experiences of mothers with preterm babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Muhimbili National Hospital. Methodology: A qualitative study with a descriptive phenomenological approach was conducted from November to December 2022 involving 15 mothers who had preterm babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Muhimbili National Hospital. Data collection was done by using an In-Depth Interview guide. Mothers were recruited through the names of the preterm babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and then traced back to their respective wards and obtained their written consent of participation. All of the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim afterwards. Data were analyzed using manual thematic analysis as inspired by Braun and Clarke. Results: Three themes and nine subthemes on mothers’ experiences of having a preterm baby admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Muhimbili National Hospital emerged following data analysis. The themes were uncertainty about the baby’s survival, the high cost in the difficult environment of care and health workers fulfilling their responsibility to mothers and babies. Conclusion: The experience of a mother with a preterm baby admitted to NICU was filled with anxiety due to uncertainty about the baby's survival and the high cost in a difficult environment of care. Mothers commended the quality of care given by the healthcare workers and expressed satisfaction with the cooperation and communication of the healthcare workers. Recommendations: Healthcare providers should continue assisting mothers through the difficult and stressful experience of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by fostering therapeutic and trustworthy connections, offering emotional support, dispensing factual and understandable information to mothers, and involving them in the care of their babies. The affected mothers recommended that the national health insurance fund expedite the processing of health insurance for coverage of newborn care, particularly for preterm babies of insured parents.

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