On becoming a first-time mother after an emergency Caesarean section: a journey from alienation to symbolic adoption.
This qualitative research focused on the significance of subjective experience of mothers who gave birth in an emergency Caesarean section. Ten first-time mothers experiencing emergency Caesarean section were interviewed, and their narrative accounts were analyzed using Giorgi's phenomenological method. Mothers described alienation from the infant on encountering her/him; primal difficulties in holding; a 'mechanistic' pattern of childcare at home; over-apprehension and fear of a cradle-death. A few of the women seemed to cope with these experiences by performing 'a symbolic adoption' of their infants. In the context of object-relations theory, the findings, will potentially inform psychological care in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Herishanu-Gilutz
Shirley
S
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel. giluty@bgu.ac.il
Shahar
Golan
G
Schattner
Emanuel
E
Kofman
Ora
O
Holcberg
Gershon
G
D000328:Adult; D002585:Cesarean Section; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009034:Mother-Child Relations