Abstract
Mothers staying with their premature babies, hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit tend to have reduced contact with friends and family, so it is pertinent that the perceived social support be evaluated during this period. This study aims to verify the validity of the Scale to evaluate the perceived social support by mothers of hospitalized premature babies. It is composed by the following dimensions: affective support; material support; informational support; emotionalsupport; embracing support; and attentional support. It is a sectional analytical study. The participants were 218 mothers of premature babies hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The social support Scale for mothers of hospitalized premature neonates demonstrates satisfactory psychometric quality, presenting evidence of criterion validity, internal consistency and internal structure.
Keywords
Infant, premature; Intensive care units, neonatal; Mother-child relationships