The perception of motherhood among the women with postpartum psychi̇atri̇c di̇sorders: A qualitative study

The qualitative study was designed to examine the perception of motherhood of women with postpartum mental health problems. The population of the descriptive phenomenological design consisted of mothers with postpartum mental problems who were hospitalized in the psychiatric clinic of a training and research hospital between January and August 2023. The sample consisted of 8 participants based on the themes that started to repeat each other in the interview. The questions of the study consisted of 6 questions about the perception of motherhood prepared by the researchers with the semi-structured interview technique. Data were collected by recording audio with in-depth interview technique using the Colaizzi method. The data were analysed in the Maxquda program. In the analysis of the data, inductive qualitative content analysis was used to create the themes and categories in the research content. Institutional permission and ethical permission were obtained prior to the research. As a result of the interviews, the perception of difficulty in motherhood is at the forefront. Perception of difficulty in motherhood was examined in 4 main themes: negative emotions, external factors, care role and difficulties during /after birth. The negative emotions theme experienced by the mothers were found to be guilty, fear, derealization, loneliness, and disappointment. The external factor difficulties were found such as need for support, partner problems, social media impact. It was found that they experienced care role difficulties due to cultural pressure on the baby, housework, other children, and the care role.