Psychological features of mothers who have given birth to premature infants

Abstract

Psychological features of mothers who have given birth to premature babies present one of the most complex and insufficiently explored areas of modern perinatal psychology. The progressive increase of the children born before the term as well as the insufficient development of psychological care programs for mothers at the women's consultation and nursing departments of newborns dictate the urgency and necessity of this problem. Using psychological techniques, the authors comprehensively assessed the personality characteristics, motives for the pregnancy preservation, personal and situational anxiety of mothers of premature babies at Perinatal Center №.1. The assessment revealed that the mothers with premature low-birth-weight babies experienced a sharp increase in situational anxiety compared to personal anxiety, while the mothers of full-term babies with a normal weight tended to decrease the level ofsituational anxiety. In addition, the mothers of premature babiessufferfrom expressed and severe depression more often than the mothers of full-term babies(p<0.05).