The experience of high-risk pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: To describe the experience of high-risk pregnancy from the perspectives of mothers and fathers.

Design: A naturalistic inquiry using selected grounded-theory techniques.

Setting: Interviews occurred within the hospital.

Participants: A sample of 21 parents who experienced high-risk pregnancy and the birth of a preterm infant.

Main outcome measures: Responses and management of responses to high-risk pregnancy.

Results: Emotional responses to high-risk pregnancy were (a)vulnerability--the realization that pregnancy outcome was at risk, (b)heightened anxiety--the transition from normal activities to bed rest and hospitalization, and (c)inevitability--the imminent premature delivery of an infant with a guarded prognosis.

Conclusions: These findings have relevance for perinatal nurses. Nurses who have knowledge of the emotional responses parents experience during high-risk pregnancy can provide supportive care to these individuals.