Quality of Life of Mothers of Preterm and Term Babies

Abstract

Premature birth is a situation with its added burdens of special child care requirements, which is likely to have an impact on the quality of life of the parents, especially the mother. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the self perceptions of quality of life of mothers of preterm babies with that of mothers of term babies. Material and Methods: This prospective study was carried out in the well baby clinic and the high risk clinic of a tertiary care centre using the WHO-Quality of Life questionnaire for adults. 50 mothers of preterm babies were enrolled as cases and 50 mothers of term babies were enrolled in the control group. Results: Final derived scores of the two groups were compared by the χ2 test. Statistically, the scores of the two groups were comparable, with no significant differences found in various subgroups of maternal age, parity, family type, working status and the gestation, gender and birth weight of the child.