The lived experience of parenting a premature infant in a rural area

Through the study described in this thesis, I aimed to answer the research question, What is the lived experience of parenting a premature infant in rural Australia? Families in rural Australia experience higher rates of preterm birth, and have poorer access to support services. Indigenous Australians experience rates of premature birth nearly double their non-Indigenous counterparts. Yet there are very few accounts examining the parenting experience of rurally residing parents of premature infants, and prior to this study, no published accounts exploring the similar experiences of Indigenous Australians. Phenomenology of Practice informed this study in which I conducted semi-structured interviews with parents of premature infants, who resided in a rural area of New South Wales during the first two years of their infant’s life. Participants brought to the interviews photographs or mementos which represented their experience. I used these as insight cultivators both during and after the interviews. Interviews were conducted with 16 rurally residing parents, 13 mothers and three fathers, including three mothers who identified as Aboriginal. From their experiential accounts four themes emerged: disrupted life, isolated dislocation, fragile connections, and constant awareness. The essence of this lived experience which was titled, reducing the distance, creating the parenting space emerged from the thematic analysis. This essence captured the impact the stressors specific to residing rurally had on the practice of parenting. I have proposed a model which illustrates the interaction of the two elements of the essence: distance and the space for the practice of parenting. Distance was experienced in a variety of forms and I have examined these in detail. It is anticipated that the findings of my study will illuminate the nature of the experience, and the needs of rurally residing families parenting premature infants.