challenges of mothers to care for premature infants at home: a qualitative study

Background: after hospital discharge, mothers with premature infants are responsible to care for the infant independently, which makes them face challenges.aim: the present study was performed with aim to explain the care challenges of mothers with premature babies at home.method: this qualitative content analysis approach study was conducted in mashhad city. for this purpose, 15 mothers whose babies had a history of nicu hospitalization were selected by purposive sampling. semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with the participants until data saturation. lincoln and guba criteria were used to ensure trustworthiness of the data. the data from the interviews were analyzed in max-qd 10 software with granheim and lundman’s approach.results: by analyzing 435 primary codes, finally 12 subcategories and 4 main categories were extracted. the main four themes included infant barriers to motherhood, uncertainty in self-efficacy, support for mother’s empowerment, and resilience strategies.implications for practice: the challenges that mothers face are the result of their feeling of inadequacy to manage the special conditions of their baby at home. therefore, the opportunity for mothers to practice and learn skills during nicu hospitalization and follow up the neonate’s condition after discharge can facilitate the process of care at home for mothers.