Ruminative thoughts and sleep disturbances among mothers of children in the palliative care unit: A phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have indicated that mothers whose children receive palliative care frequently engage in repetitive negative thought patterns, or ruminative thinking, when confronted with intense stressors.

AIM: The present study was aimed to explore the themes, types (intrusive vs. deliberate), and perceived impact of ruminative thoughts experienced by mothers of children receiving treatment in a palliative care unit, as well as the perceived impact of these thoughts on the mothers' daily functioning and sleep.

METHODS

The research was conducted using a phenomenological design, a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mothers whose children were receiving treatment in the paediatric palliative care unit of a city hospital in northwestern Türkiye. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse the data.

RESULTS

The analysis yielded six interrelated themes reflecting distinct patterns of ruminative thinking among mothers: (1) self-blaming rumination; (2) faith-, acceptance-, and endurance-related rumination; (3) anxiety-related rumination; (4) struggle- and anger-related rumination; (5) hope- related rumination; and (6) sleep disturbances related to rumination.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that rumination among mothers was multidimensional and that mothers experienced recurrent ruminative thoughts, which were categorised as either intrusive or deliberate, and that these thoughts were associated with sleep problems.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: In light of these findings, it is imperative to identify mothers experiencing rumination at an early stage and to implement targeted interventions.