Mothers' Parenting Experience of Premature Infants: Q Methodological Approach

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the parenting experience of mothers of premature infants in order to provide basic data for educational solutions and desirable directions. METHODS: Q-methodology was used as it provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item. The participants were 33 mothers of premature infants who sorted 34 selected Q-statements which were then classified into the shape of a normal distribution using a 9-point scale. Subjectivity on parenting experience among the mothers was analyzed using the pc-QUANAL program. RESULTS: Four types of parenting experience were identified. Type I was named 'struggling', type II, 'self blame', type III, 'information collecting', and type IV, 'self-introspection'. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that different approaches to educational programs are needed for mothers of premature infants based on the four types of parenting experience.