The Effect of Massage on Maternal Role Adaptation in Mothers with Premature Infants

Accepting and adapting the maternal role by mothers with premature infants is complicated. Active participation of mothers in neonate massage may facilitate this process.

Determining the effect of massage on maternal role adaptation in mothers of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

A non-parallel quasi-experimental study with a sequential sampling method.

This study was done in the NICU of Imam Ali Hospital in Amol City, Iran.

90 mothers of premature infants hospitalized in the NICU participated in this study.

The mothers in the intervention group after receiving two training sessions massaged their infant for 15 minutes daily from the third day of hospitalization for 5 consecutive days.

A maternal role adaptation questionnaire was used. Participants completed the maternal role adaptation questionnaire 3 times: before, on the fifth day, and 14 days after the first day of intervention. The maternal role adaptation questionnaire was used to assess the maternal role adaptation. The participants of the control group also filled out the questionnaire at similar time.

The mean scores of maternal adaptation were significantly different between the two control groups (5th day and 14th day) and intervention (day 5: 136.88 ± 10.062 (P = .025); day 14: 151.93 ± 6 (P < .001)). Maternal role adaptation showed an upward trend in the two groups during the 14 days of study, but this trend was significantly higher in the intervention group over time, compared to the control group.

Massage of premature infants facilitates the adaptation to maternal role. It is recommended, along with other nursing interventions, to empower mothers with premature neonates admitted to the NICU.