SELF-REPORTED FAMILY HEALTH AND WELL-BEING AFTER EARLY DISCHARGE FROMMATERNITY HOSPITAL - A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

This paper is concerned with the self-reported health and well-being o f families discharged from maternity hospital within 24 hours of child birth. The empirical data were collected in focused interviews with 12 families; background data were also drawn from hospital documents, Da ta analysis was based an the phenomenological approach developed by Co laizzi. The informants' accounts of their health and feelings of well- being revolved largely around the process of growth to the new life si tuation as well as the importance of a sense of feeling at home in one 's everyday environment. The well-being of the newborn and other child ren in the family was highlighted in the parents' descriptions of the family's health. However, physical health was just one dimension in de finitions of family health.