Abstract

MUNEVAR TORRES, ROSA YOLANDA  and  MUNOZ DE RODRIGUEZ, LUCY. Mother Says: My Baby´s Pain is my Pain. av.enferm. [online]. 2010, vol.28, suppl.1, pp.73-82. ISSN 0121-4500.

Objective: describe the mothers´ feelings and the social support they receive when their newborn is in pain. Methodology: short-scope qualitative study with ethnographic methodology. Twenty-two in depth interviews with 8 mothers, with an average between two and four each. The sample corresponded to the saturation of the information selected by relevance and adaptation; field notes and participant observations were used. Data were analyzed according to the James Spradley´s methodology. Results: the main topic was "The newborn´s pain is known, felt and relieved by mothers with family support". The first sub-topic (already published): "Mothers know and relief their newborn´s pain", and the second: "The mother feels her newborn´s pain and looks for support in her family"; comprises two domains: Concern, pain and love are maternal feelings in face of the newborn´s pain. The family and relatives are types of support to the mother. Conclusions: the newborn´s pain and the lack of awareness about the cause and the proper manner to relief the pain cause stress in the mother and strengthen the mother-child relation, as she believes to endure the same pain than her child´s, who demands protection and care as relief response, a priority action for their own feelings and needs. Hence, the mother wishes to be taken care of as a suffering human being. This requires relatives and people to give emotional support in the way of company and trust, and information whenever guidance, advice, or help in making decisions is needed taking into account the cultural context. These aspects are coherent with the theory posited by Madeleine Leininger, since the viewpoint of the mother´s world and the factors inherent to the social structure that includes the family relation will have a bear on the meanings, expressions and ways of taking care of her child as dictated by her cultural background. Therefore, the newborn´s world includes the mother and demands nursing and intervention for both individuals, and respect for their feelings, values, beliefs, costumes and practices of cultural care.

Keywords : pain; newborn; emotions; social support.

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