title: [Social representation of fathers regarding their premature child in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit].
abstract: Qualitative study that aimed at understanding the social representation of a parent with a premature child. The data were collected between May and June 2008, in a semi-structured interview with 17 parents whose premature children were hospitalized in the NICU of two public institutions in Natal, Brazil. The reports were analyzed based on the Social Representations Theory (SRT). The results reveal that the hospitalization of their children causes parents to experience emotions of fear, anguish, anxiety, loneliness interspersed with those of faith, joy and hope. For a parent the NICU is a frightening environment, albeit necessary for the specialized care that the conditions of the premature newborn require.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Programa de Pós-Graduação do Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Natal, RN.
authors.forename: Jovanka Bittencourt Leite
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Ana Cristina Pinheiro Fernandes
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Iris do Céu Clara
authors.initials: Ido C
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Rosineide Santana
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: de Brito
authors.forename: Nilba Lima
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: de Souza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012961:Sociology; D055815:Young Adult