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ABSTRACT: A group of fathers met regularly during their child's first year through an e-meeting portal. (This was part of a larger study which was designed to describe mothers' and fathers' experiences of an intervention to provide parental support.) The technology allowed meetings by web-based videoconferencing, both one-to-one and in groups. The leader of the electronic encounters was a man with comprehensive experience in leading parental support groups with fathers. The fathers were interviewed using a narrative approach twice, once midway through the study and once at the end. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the interview data and three categories were identified: being unfamiliar and insecure talking about fatherhood, sharing experiences and being confirmed, and being supported and limited by the electronic encounters. Most fruitful and rewarding in the meetings was the fathers sharing other fathers' experiences. It was important to talk about things they did not talk to others about. Some fathers expressed a wish for more structure in the meetings. The fathers in this study expressed a wish to meet other fathers in a support group during the whole childhood period.
Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 02/2008; 14(2):71-4. · 1.21 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Five mothers with normal pregnancies and healthy children met regularly during the infants' first year through an e-meeting portal. The technology made it possible to meet using realtime videoconferencing through the Web, both one to one and in groups. An experienced child-health nurse was the leader of the group. The intervention data included interviews and diary notes. Personal tape-recorded narrative interviews were conducted with the mothers, one midway through the study and one at the end. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the data and two major categories were identified: feeling support through confirmation and solidarity, and the technology presents possibilities and limitations. The mothers felt that sharing experiences with others was supportive and that having new friends reduced their feeling of loneliness. The mothers discussed the technology as fun and exciting. However, they were disturbed by sound problems and the realities of caring for an infant. The opportunity to meet other mothers in the same situation via electronic encounters and to share experiences of being a mother facilitated everyday life for these mothers.
Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 02/2006; 12(4):194-7. · 1.21 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Raising a child is probably the most challenging responsibility faced by a new parent. The first year is the basis of the child's development and is significant for growth and development. Knowledge and understanding of parents' experiences are especially important for child health nurses, whose role is to support parents in their parenthood.
The aim of this review was to describe mothers' and fathers' experiences of parenthood during the child's first year.
A literature search covering 1992-2002 was carried out using the terms parenthood, parenting, first year, infancy and experience. Of the 88 articles retrieved, 33 articles (both qualitative and quantitative) met the inclusion criteria and corresponded to the aim of this review. The data were analysed by thematic content analysis.
Being a parent during the child's first year was experienced as overwhelming. The findings were described from two perspectives, namely mothers' and fathers' perspectives, since all the included studies considered mothers' and fathers' experiences separately. The following categories were identified concerning mothers: being satisfied and confident as a mother, being primarily responsible for the child is overwhelming and causes strain, struggling with the limited time available for oneself, and being fatigued and drained. The following categories were found for fathers: being confident as a father and as a partner, living up to the new demands causes strain, being prevented from achieving closeness to the child is hurtful, and being the protector and the provider of the family. The unifying theme for these categories was 'living in a new and overwhelming world'.
There is a need for nurse interventions aimed at minimizing parents' experiences of strain. A suggested intervention is to find a method whereby child health nurses' support would lead to parents becoming empowered in their parenthood.
Journal of Advanced Nursing 06/2004; 46(3):319-30. · 1.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To elucidate mothers' experiences related to separation from their newborns during their 1st week of life, when the newborns had been transferred to a neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU).
A phenomenologic-hermeneutic approach. Tape-recorded narrative interviews were conducted 1 to 2 months postpartum in the participants' homes. The mothers were asked to describe and reflect upon their experiences during the time when they were separated from their children.
Eight women whose full-term newborns had been treated in the NICU for between 2 and 10 days and then declared healthy and sent home.
The women's narratives revealed that their experiences had caused them emotional strain and anxiety. From the analysis, three themes emerged: Being an outsider was based on feelings of despair, powerlessness, homelessness, and disappointment. Lack of control included emotional instability, threat, guilt, and insecurity. The theme of caring included trust, love, anxiety, relief, closeness, and explanations. The experiences were related to the staff, the child, the environment, the mother herself, the child's father, and other mothers.
Separating a mother and her newborn during the 1st week of the child's life involves much emotional strain for the mother, even though the newborn is not seriously ill.
Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing 31(3):275-82. · 1.03 Impact Factor
