Transizioni difficili: diventare genitori nella nascita pretermine

[Autom. eng. transl.] It is recognized that some circumstances can make the process of transition to parenthood complex; among them is the preterm birth, a stressful event, linked to emotions and peculiar experiences for the couple, who may feel not yet "ready" to face this event. Faced with this experience, the partners are called, among other things, to manage the disappointment with respect to some expectations and to restructure their representations, to open up to the relationship with a newborn that can be profoundly immature, and always different from what was imagined. The present work aims to investigate the process of transition to parenthood in preterm birth, highlighting possible resources and criticalities. Specifically, we wanted to explore experiences, representations, parenting thoughts, paying particular attention to certain dimensions, including the relationship with the child and the hospital institution, the relationship between the partners, the main sources of support; these transitions were then compared with those characterizing a term birth. A semi-structured interview constructed ad hoc, aimed at investigating the areas mentioned above, was administered, a few days after delivery, to forty couples, twenty who experienced a preterm birth and twenty a term birth. Content analysis has highlighted the presence of some crucial issues; specifically, the narration of preterm couples is characterized by descriptions of childbirth as an "unreal" experience, in which the woman does not feel an active protagonist of the event, and for experiences connected to a suspended parenting, exercised only partially and conditioned prescriptions and rhythms of the hospital context. However, although full of negative experiences, prematurity also appears as a possible push towards personal and couple growth and a greater awareness of one's parental role.