Development of the mother–child relationship following pre‐eclampsia

Abstract

The concept of primary maternal preoccupation defined by Winnicott constituted the theoretical framework. We assessed the establishment of the mother–child relationship in primiparous women who developed pre‐eclampsia in the final trimester of pregnancy. This qualitative study was based on semi‐structured interviews conducted with 15 women treated at a tertiary referral hospital for high‐risk pregnancy in Brazil, whose babies were 1–4 months old at the time of the interview. For analysis, themes were organised around the principal signs of primary maternal preoccupation and the relationship of the women with their mothers in accordance with the proposed theoretical framework, emerging themes relevant for the comprehension of the data collected concerning the significance of the diagnosis of pre‐eclampsia in women's lives and the importance of the women's social support network. The results showed that all participants referred to signs of primary maternal preoccupation, the importance of the relationship with their own mother as constituting a model of childcare, the relevance of social support, and the difficulties encountered in fully understanding the medical implications of the diagnosis in their lives and in dealing with hospitalisation. In conclusion, despite feeling the effect of the disease on their lives, these women developed a good mother–child relationship.

Keywords:

• pre‐eclampsia
• mother–child relationship
• primary maternal preoccupation
• qualitative methods