{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T11:40:37Z","timestamp":1791891637929,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]],"date-time":"2021-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631577600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":13,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000865","name":"Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["'Preterm Birth initiative\u2019 Grant number OPP11073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["'Preterm Birth initiative\u2019 Grant number OPP11073"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000865","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,20]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Babies born preterm often have challenges in feeding, temperature control and breathing difficulty and are prone to infection during the neonatal period. These usually necessitate admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Admission to NICU disrupts the mother\u2013baby bonding.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study explored the lived experiences of mothers with preterm babies admitted to NICU in a low-resource setting.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Study design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This was a qualitative study where 16 participants took part in indepth interviews and 35 in focus group discussions. We included mothers who delivered and were caring for preterm babies at the NICU of Mulago National Referral Hospital.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Study setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Data were collected from a public hospital, which works as a district and national referral hospital located in the capital of Uganda.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Fifty-one mothers with preterm babies in the NICU were sampled and recruited after informed consent. Data were analysed using manual thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There were six themes on the experiences of mothers of preterm babies in NICU: constant worry and uncertainty about the survival of their babies, baby feeding challenges, worries of discharge, communication gaps between mothers and nurses, community acceptability and disdain for preterm babies, and financial challenges.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions and recommendations<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mothers of preterm babies admitted to NICU in a low-resource setting still need a lot of support other than the medical care given to their babies. Support groups in the hospital and community are recommended to help in dealing with these challenges.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043989","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]],"date-time":"2021-09-14T13:05:15Z","timestamp":1631624715000},"page":"e043989","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":30,"title":["\u201cWhat are you carrying?\u201d Experiences of mothers with preterm babies in low-resource setting neonatal intensive care unit: a qualitative study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3610-7817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatuma","family":"Namusoke","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Musa","family":"Sekikubo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Flavia","family":"Namiiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Paediatrics and Child Health, Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Janet","family":"Nakigudde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychiatry, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(17)31833-0"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(12)60560-1"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1742-4755-10-S1-S2"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1053\/j.semperi.2010.09.011"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.5","unstructured":"W MCEE - World Health Organization . WHO methods and data sources for child causes of death 2000\u20132015, 2016."},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.6","unstructured":"USAID . Trends and determinants of neonatal mortality in Uganda: further analysis of the demographic and health surveys, 2019."},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12884-018-1831-0","article-title":"Survival of low birthweight neonates in Uganda: analysis of progress between 1995 and 2011","volume":"18","author":"Arunda","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Pregnancy Childbirth"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2014.03.010"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.earlhumdev.2013.08.006"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1111\/mcn.12425","article-title":"\u201cBreastfeeding\u201d but not at the breast: Mothers\u2019 descriptions of providing pumped human milk to their infants via other containers and caregivers","volume":"13","author":"Felice","year":"2017","journal-title":"Matern Child Nutr"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s40748-019-0105-9","article-title":"Facility readiness in low and middle-income countries to address care of high risk\/ small and sick newborns","volume":"5","author":"Narayanan","year":"2019","journal-title":"Matern Health Neonatol Perinatol"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.4314\/ahs.v16i2.2","article-title":"Is facility based neonatal care in low resource setting keeping pace? A glance at Uganda\u2019s national referral hospital","volume":"16","author":"Abdallah","year":"2016","journal-title":"Afr Health Sci"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.13","unstructured":"Technology, U.N.C.f.S.a . National guidelines for research involving humans as research participants, 2007. Available: http:\/\/research.ciu.ac.ug\/files\/National_Guidelines_for_Research_Involving_Human_Participants.pdf"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1053\/adnc.2002.32047","article-title":"Worry about child health in mothers of hospitalized medically fragile infants","volume":"2","author":"Docherty","year":"2002","journal-title":"Adv Neonatal Care"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"150","DOI":"10.1002\/nop2.373","article-title":"Experiences of mothers with preterm babies at a mother and baby unit of a tertiary Hospital: a descriptive phenomenological study","volume":"7","author":"Lomotey","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nurs Open"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(13)60993-9"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0009922811409028"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/fn.75.2.F117"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.74.3.379","article-title":"An investigation into the benefits of resiting nasoenteric feeding tubes","volume":"74","author":"van Someren","year":"1984","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"573","DOI":"10.1002\/imhj.21788","article-title":"\u201cWeathering the storm:\u201d Mothers\u2019 and fathers\u2019 experiences of parenting a preterm infant","volume":"40","author":"O'Donovan","year":"2019","journal-title":"Infant Ment Health J"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/adc.2007.135921"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"362","DOI":"10.1097\/ANC.0000000000000406","article-title":"Discharge criteria for the late preterm infant: a review of the literature","volume":"17","author":"Quinn","year":"2017","journal-title":"Adv Neonatal Care"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pec.2009.01.014"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"637","DOI":"10.1111\/1471-0528.12104","article-title":"Parents' experiences and satisfaction with care during the birth of their very preterm baby: a qualitative study","volume":"120","author":"Sawyer","year":"2013","journal-title":"BJOG"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.25","first-page":"281","article-title":"Perceived needs of parents of critically ill infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)","volume":"27","author":"Ward","year":"2001","journal-title":"Pediatr Nurs"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12960-015-0066-7","article-title":"Making the transition to workload-based staffing: using the workload indicators of staffing need method in Uganda","volume":"13","author":"Namaganda","year":"2015","journal-title":"Hum Resour Health"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapediatrics.2018.3619","article-title":"Association of nurse workload with missed nursing care in the neonatal intensive care unit","volume":"173","author":"Tubbs-Cooley","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA Pediatr"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"638","DOI":"10.1093\/pch\/16.10.638","article-title":"From powerlessness to empowerment: mothers expect more than information from the prenatal consultation for preterm labour","volume":"16","author":"Gaucher","year":"2011","journal-title":"Paediatr Child Health"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/s40738-015-0006-1","article-title":"Has Uganda experienced any stalled fertility transitions? Reflecting on the last four decades (1973-2011)","volume":"1","author":"Kabagenyi","year":"2015","journal-title":"Fertil Res Pract"},{"key":"2025121509463252000_11.9.e043989.30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/2191-1991-1-6"}],"container-title":["BMJ Open"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043989","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,15]],"date-time":"2025-12-15T17:46:42Z","timestamp":1765820802000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043989"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]},"references-count":30,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,14]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043989"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043989","relation":{},"ISSN":["2044-6055","2044-6055"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2044-6055","type":"print"},{"value":"2044-6055","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}}}