A grounded theory study on psychological health of mothers with premature infants-becoming a marginalized mother

Mothers face considerable parenting challenges because of premature birth and its subsequent phases. This study aims to develop a grounded theory that encompasses the psychosocial experiences of mothers with premature infants in Türkiye, spanning from the prenatal period to the child’s school age. Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed. Initial analyses involved a document containing in-depth interview transcriptions from nine mothers. Subsequently, a Facebook group for mothers with premature infants was observed, becoming a crucial data source through theoretical sampling, involving 287 mothers and their cross-sectional or longitudinal data. The mean age of mothers was 34.5 ± 4.6 years old. The grounded theory, ‘Becoming a marginalized mother,’ highlights individual and collective parenting experiences of mothers within two main categories. ‘Navigating a challenging journey’ involves beginning a traumatic motherhood journey, struggling as a mother, trying to cope, and embracing the role of mothering a premature infant. ‘Journeying together’ involves seeing the group as a valuable source, building a sense of unity, and finding comfort and support. Mothers’ individual and collective experiences contained the feeling of marginalization as a mother. Mothers experienced psychological distress and positive psychological changes over an extended timeline. Results emphasize the contributions of improvements in children’s health and development, personal coping strategies, and positive online group interactions as social support on embracing the role of mothering a premature infant and, herewith, mothers’ psychological health. Therefore, it should be essential to support mothers’ personal and social resources and their infant’s health and development longitudinally with an interdisciplinary approach in practice. Results discussed within the Stress Theory and Post-Traumatic Growth Model.