Abstract
Objective
To understand the woman’s experience of becoming a second-time mother.
Methods
The study design adopts a qualitative methodology with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Data collection was performed in two daycare centers in the Leiria area. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 11 women with a second child aged between 18 and 24 months. Van Manen’s guidelines were taken into account in the activities developed in the data analysis process.
Results
Becoming a second-time mother emerged as “a completely different experience” in that two children and a family require the performance of numerous activities by the woman, which leads her to the experience of too much and the limit, of going beyond herself in the search for a new self who wants to find the essential. The search for help is the path taken by the woman at a time when she needs more support.
Conclusion
This study opens a new perspective of understanding the phenomenon of transition to parenthood and may have an impact on nurses’ clinical practice.
Women; Mothers/psychology; Family relations; Second child