Introduction: After premature birth, babies begin their lives in the highly mechanical environment of a neonatal intensive care unit, where they face intensive and medically invasive care. The process is also traumatic for parents because of the uncertainty about both the baby's survival and the impact of premature birth on the baby's development. In addition, they witness the invasive care their baby needs, which can be very upsetting for parents. Purpose: To investigate how the premature baby's stay in the intensive care unit affects the mother's well-being and what problems they face. Methods: We made a review of the professional and scientific literature in Slovenian and English. The data were retrieved via the World Wide Web using the bibliographic databases Pubmed and Sciencedirect, as well as with the help of COBBISS and Google Scholar. The literature was collected using the Prisma diagram. Fifteen (15) selected articles that met the criteria was assessed for quality according to the hierarchy of evidence. Results: We have found that mothers experience negative feelings such as fear of the death of the premature baby, anxiety, stress, restlessness, insomnia. They cite separation from the baby and adjustment to the parental role as the most stressful challenge. The most important satisfaction factors are the ability to perform parental tasks, professional communication, good provision of information and emotional support. Nurses play an important role in ensuring that mothers are psychologically stable throughout their hospitalization in the maternity ward. Most mothers feel that there are aspects that could be further improved to alleviate or reduce maternal distress and anxiety. Discussion and conclusion: We found three key components that are important for improving the psychosocial well-being of mothers: socializing, social support and a sense of belonging. Health personnel need to be well trained to impart appropriate knowledge and support to mothers. Mothers' problems and distress need to be correctly identified and addressed in an appropriate manner.
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