Medical and social characteristics of families and psychological characteristics of mothers of children born with a body weight of less than 1500 g

• Main Authors: E. A. Matveeva, A. I. Malyshkina, O. M. Filkina, O. Yu. Kocherova, N. V. Dolotova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Ltd. “The National Academy of Pediatric Science and Innovation” 2020-01-01
• Series: Rossijskij Vestnik Perinatologii i Pediatrii
• Subjects: children with birth weight less than 1500 g; medical and biological characteristics of the family; psychological characteristics of mothers
• Online Access: https://www.ped-perinatology.ru/jour/article/view/1015

In order to study the medical and social characteristics of families, an analysis of the biological and social history of mothers and fathers of children born with a body weight less than 1500 was carried out. To identify the psychological characteristics, mothers were tested.It has been established that the social characteristics of the families of children born with a body weight of less than 1500 g was favorable – most families were two-parent, had satisfactory living conditions, mothers and fathers of these children were working and had education not lower than secondary special. The majority of fathers (80%) considered themselves healthy, the state of health of mothers was characterized by a high frequency of somatic pathology, only 27% of women were healthy. The majority of fathers and mothers noted the impact of occupational hazards, while the mothers’ adverse factors were mainly associated with intellectual activity, and the fathers – with physical labor. Half of mothers and 70% of fathers belonged to the age group of 30 years and older. Despite the favorable characteristics of reproductive behavior at the stage of pregravid preparation and in the first trimester of pregnancy, mothers who gave birth to children weighing less than 1500 g were characterized by an unfavorable obstetric gynecological history and a high incidence of gynecological pathology. Psychological features of mothers consisted in a high frequency of accentuation of hyperthymic character traits, a desire to emphasize determination and masculinity, anxiety, impulsivity, which may indicate a compensatory reaction to a stressful situation – the birth of a premature baby. This is also indicated by the high frequency of psychosomatic (45.9%) and authoritarian (29.5%) types of attitude to the problems of the child. In this regard, only 62.2% of mothers established optimal emotional contact with the child by the end of the neonatal period. The revealed psychological characteristics of mothers require early psychological and psychotherapeutic correction to successfully overcome the stress of giving birth to a premature baby and consolidate all the efforts of a woman for habilitation.