The information and support needs of mothers of premature infants.

This research was a descriptive study that surveyed the support needs of a nonrandom convenience sample of 56 mothers of high-risk premature infants. The results indicated that these mothers' received information similar to that given to mothers of healthy full-term newborns and information that they wanted on the "colicky" or crying infant, noisy breathing, "spitting up," infant behavior, infant illness, and prematurity was not given to them. Mothers who reported that they needed more information and did not receive it were more anxious and less confident in caring for their infant. The majority of the mothers felt well-supported, although many of the mothers found the infant's first postdischarge week difficult.