New mothers’ struggles to love their child. An interpretative synthesis of qualitative studies

Figures & data

Figure 1. Data search using the PRISMA flow diagram (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, & Altman, 2009).

Table I. Characteristic of the included qualitative studies.

Author Year Country	Aims & research questions	Ethics	Participants characteristics	Sample method & recruitment	Data collection & data analysis
Barrack, 2007 USA	To understand parents’ experiences of bonding with their babies in utero and after birthTo discover the relevance of a prenatal and perinatal psychology (PPN) based bonding class in this process	No information	Five couples, four married, one unmarried	Sample recruited from prenatal parenting classes, method not described	Semi-structured interviews, using video and audiotape conducted 2–6 months after birthPhenomenological and portraiture analysis
Coates et al., 2014 UK	To explore how women experienced and made sense of the range of emotional distress states in the first postnatal year	Ethical approval from the university Research Governance Committee and NCT Research Office	17 women aged 23–42 years who experienced psychological problems in the first year after birth	Opportunistic. Advertisements placed on relevant websites, in local National Childbirth Trust newsletters, and through instructors at relevant antenatal and postnatal classes	Semi-structured face-to-face or telephone interviewsInterpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
Elmir et al., 2011Australia	To describe the experiences of women who had an emergency hysterectomy following a severe postpartum hemorrhage and the impact on early mothering experiences	Approval from the human research ethics committee at the university	21 Australian women aged 26–57 years who had a postpartum hemorrhage/emergency hysterectomy	Recruitment proceeded through media release, flyers and posters being disseminated around university campuses and public places	Semi-structured, face-to-face, telephone and email internet interviews Software NVIVO using thematic analysis
Nystedt et al., 2008 Sweden	To explore women’s experience of becoming a mother after prolonged labour	Approval by the Ethics Committee of University Medical Faculty	Ten women with prolonged labour (first child)	Participants were identified through medical records, and recruited by invitation letter	Individual interviews Thematic content analysis
van Reenen & van Rensburg, 2013 South-Africa.	To explore the subjective experiences and perceptions of women who delivered their babies by an unplanned Cesarean section and their influence on maternal attachment representations and mothers’ relationship with their babies	Approval by relevant Ethics Committee	10 women who had delivered babies by unplanned Caesarian section	Snowball sampling	In-depth phenomenological interviewsThematic content analysis.

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009). The PRISMA group. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. BMJ, 339, b2535.

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Barrack, C. (2007). A journey of love: The influence of prenatal and perinatal psychology on parent-child bonding. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 22(1), 55–10.

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Coates, R., Ayers, S., & de Visser, R. (2014). Women’s experience of postnatal distress: A qualitative study. BioMed Central Pregnancy and Childbirth, 14, 359.

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Elmir, R., Scmied, V., Wilkes, L., & Jackson, D. (2011). Separation, failure and temporary relinquishment: Women’s experiences of early mothering in the context of emergency hysterectomy. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 1119–1127.

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Nystedt, A., Högberg, U., & Lundman, B. (2008). Women’s experiences of becoming a mother after prolonged labour. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 63(3), 250–258.

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van Reenen, A., & van Rensburg, E. (2013). The influence of an unplanned Caesarean section on initial mother-infant bonding: Mother’s subjective experiences. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 23(2), 269–274.

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