Process of construction of the maternal occupational identity interrupted by the grief

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the occupation of a woman who became the mother of a preterm baby, experiencing the child's death one month after hospital discharge. It is a qualitative study, whose outline was the Case Study, anchored in the theoretical framework of the Human Occupation Model. Data were collected through the application of the Daily Occupations (DO) instrument and two semi-structured interviews, one conducted at the Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit and the other in the home context. The DO data were organized descriptively and the interviews were transcribed and subsequently analyzed using the Thematic Content Analysis. It is observed that the construction of maternal occupational identity occurred gradually and was related to the child's clinical condition. As analytical categories, two themes emerged: “Hospitalization of the preterm baby: a new, unknown and frightening context for the future and new mother” and “The death and the process of maternal mourning: how to continue to live after the child's death”. It is argued that becoming a mother to a preterm baby reveals changes in the routine that demands staying in a hospital environment. Still, that the need to face the mourning was configured as a new and complex challenge since the maternal identity process was interrupted when experiencing the unexpected loss of the baby. Research that addresses the occupations of mothers of preterm babies is relevant to the practice of Occupational Therapy, as it allows knowing the construction of maternal identity in the context of risky birth, and also how to deal with the grief associated with maternal mourning.