THE TRANSITION TO HOME FOR MOTHERS OF HEALTHY AND INITIALLY ILL NEWBORN BABIES

Mothers' difficulties with the transition of their baby from hospital to home have been studied for several years. An examination of a numbe r of studies from the USA, Canada, and the UK has shown a remarkable s imilarity in the findings despite the demographic and cultural differe nces in the sample characteristics. It appears, then, that maternal re sponses to the transition to home are more tied to the experience than to the setting. The purpose of this paper is to place these findings within a framework that would provide a means for midwives and nurses to help mothers make this transition more comfortably and confidently than in the past, The framework chosen is the Transition Model as deve loped by Kenner (1988). This model suggests the problems with transiti on to home can be addressed under the following categories: 1. informa tion needs; 2. grief; 3. parent-child development; 4. stress and copin g; 5. social support.