SOCIAL SUPPORT AND NEEDS OF MOTHERS OF HOSPITALIZED NEONATES IN THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
mothers; Intensive Care Unit; Palliative Care.
When neonates are hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, puerperal women need specific care, especially when the baby is submitted to Neonatal Palliative Care. In this scenario, the needs and perceived social support of the accompanying mothers are important aspects for the assistance offered. The objective of this research is to compare the indicators of needs and social support perceived in mothers of neonates in Palliative Care and of mothers of newborns hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It is a quantitative, transversal and comparative study. A sample was adopted for convenience, consisting of thirty mothers from each group. The instruments used were: the sociodemographic and health questionnaire, the Inventory of Needs and Stressors of Family Members of Intensive Care and the Scale to assess the social support perceived by mothers of premature babies hospitalized. The results obtained demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the groups in relation to the needs, however with regard to social support there was a difference, mothers of newborns in Palliative Care perceived less social support. Thus, it is observed the importance of having a different look and specific strategies for the mothers with children in Palliative Care, such results can also contribute to the construction of interventions by the health team.