Experiences of family hope and hopelessness in the context of pregnancy and care for high-risk newborns

Ramos, Bruna Camargos de Lima; Costa, Renata de Oliveira; Duarte, Elysângela Dittz; Charepe, Zaida Borges; Braga, Patrícia Pinto

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.7906.4834

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Sumário

Original Article • Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem 34 • 2026 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.7906.4834 linkcopy

Experiences of family hope and hopelessness in the context of pregnancy and care for high-risk newborns^*

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Objective: to understand family experiences of hope, from pregnancy to the care for high-risk newborns.

Method: qualitative research, guided by the Theoretical Model for Understanding the Complex Nature of Hope, which took place in a multiprofessional outpatient clinic for high-risk newborn care. A total of 28 individuals from 14 families participated through oral history interviews. This allowed for the construction of family narratives, which were submitted to deductive thematic analysis.

Results: family experiences of hope are established based on four dimensions: understanding, judgment, and interpretation about hope; affective aspects and feelings regarding the lived experience; actions, behaviors, and strategies that strengthen family hope; and influence of context and life situations. These are influenced by the temporality in which the family finds itself. At the beginning of the experience of risk, hope appears fragile and uncertain, with negative feelings and desires for better days. Over time, strategies, such as spirituality and intrapersonal relationship skills, are strengthened and maintained, reframing feelings.

Conclusion: understanding family experiences of hope and hopelessness can enable healthcare providers to strengthen and contribute to a more positive experience in the presence of gestational and neonatal risk.

Descriptors:
Hope; Family; High-Risk Pregnancy; Infant, Newborn; Nursing Research; Family Nursing.

(2) Hope is an essential resource in the context of gestational and neonatal risk. (2) Family hope is dynamic and influences temporality. (3) The experience of family hope is influenced by relationships, beliefs, and emotions. (4) Nursing should assist families in strengthening hope

Family	Participants	Neonatal Risk	Gestational Risk
F1	Father, Mother	Prematurity	HELLP syndrome* and diabetes
F2	Mother, Grandmother, Godmother	Congenital syphilis; prematurity	Syphilis
F3	Mother, Aunt	Congenital toxoplasmosis	Toxoplasmosis
F4	Mother, Sister	Congenital toxoplasmosis	Toxoplasmosis and hypertension
F5	Mother, Aunt	Prematurity	Preeclampsia and twinning
F6	Father	Prematurity, triplets	Hypertension, triplets, and diabetes
F7	Mother, Aunt	Prematurity	Hypertension and diabetes
F8	Mother, Father	Prematurity	Hypothyroidism
F9	Mother, Grandmother	Prematurity; twinning	Preeclampsia, twinning, placental abruption, COVID-19
F10	Mother, Father	Prematurity	Diabetes, polyhydramnios
F11	Mother, Aunt	Pericardial effusion	Hypertension and cardiac alterations
F12	Mother, Father	Congenital rubella	Rubella
F13	Mother, Father	Prematurity	Gestational diabetes and twinning
F14	Mother, Grandfather	Neonatal sepsis	Hypertension

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Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14040-902 Ribeirão Preto SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 (16) 3315-3387 / 3315-4407 - Ribeirão Preto - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rlae@eerp.usp.br

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[TFN1] *HELLP = Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets

Code	Narrative statements
Cognition: the individual’s appraisal, related to the lived process, through which they interpret, judge, desire, and imagine hope; presence or absence of realistic desires regarding the future.	Hope is what keeps us alive. I think that is it. I am almost certain that if we do not have hope, there is no point in living. So, based on that question, I think I always had the hope that everything would work out (Grandmother 9). Hope is to believe and to transform. Better days (Maternal Sister 3).
Behavioral: actions directed toward hope in the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual realms. Strategies that can promote, strengthen, or weaken family hope.	To have an expectation of hope when we discovered the risk, my mother-in-law and I went to the chapel and knelt, prayed. The strategy to have hope was to believe in God (Mother 2). The strategy used to have hope, the most certain one for us was unity, being together, not leaving the person alone. Sometimes I would leave there, their mother was crying, I would talk to her: It will be okay! I think the strategy we used was that, it was unity, grit with each other there in faith, there so that everything would work out (Father 13).

Experiences of family hope and hopelessness in the context of pregnancy and care for high-risk newborns*

Experiences of family hope and hopelessness in the context of pregnancy and care for high-risk newborns^*