Year: 1999
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The confrontation with the birth of a child with a congenital anomaly is enormously stressful for\nparents. Expectations of a healthy baby and a joyfhlnursery time are often not met. These parents\nwill have multiple questions and concents which can be centered around the past, the present, and\nthe future. Looking back, they may ask themselves: What has gone wrong that our child has a\ncongenital anomaly? What have we done or not done that this has happened? In most cases these\nquestions crumot be answered, because no specific cause of the anomaly can be identified. This\noften leaves parents with much uncertainty, which will not easily be resolved. At the same time,\nthey will have to accept the situation as it is, and face the responsibility to care for this child.\nThis presents the parents with the actual task of caring for and attaching to their newbom\nchild. However, these children must be hospitalized, often in a neonatal pediatric surgery\nintensive care unit during a considerable time, which aggravates the difficulties for the parents.\nThe unit in itself may provoke anxiety in the parents. They find themselves in a completely\nunfamiliar situation of which they do not know the rules and what is expected ofthem. They see\ntheir child surrounded by high-tech instruments on a ward with many busy doctors and nurses.\nThe child will be undergoing many more or less invasive and painful procedures, and it may be\nvery difficult for parents to see tlus happen, wlule they have very few tools to comfort or help the\nchild. The medical situation of a child with a major congelutal abdominal anomaly will be critical\nfor a shorter Of longer period. For parents this is a situation which provokes CllOlTIlOUS anxieties.\nAll a consequence they may have difficulty to attach themselves to their child until the medical\nsituation has been stabilized.\nIf a child with a major congenital abdominal anomaly has survived these first months,\nconcerns about the future may arise. Parents will raise questions about what will become of their\nchild. Will it grow up to be a normal child? Will it be handicapped? In what ways will the life of\ntheir child be affected by the anomaly or the treatment? These questions are often very difficult\nto answer for a particular child, and answers based on group findings may be unsatisfying for\nparents and may not take away their uncertainties.
Author: Nico H. Bouman
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1701381282