Listening to the Voices of Mothers Who Participated in a Video Feedback Intervention for Postpartum Depression.

Postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms can negatively influence mother-infant interactions. Video-Feedback Interaction Guidance for Improving Interactions Between Depressed Mothers and their Infants (VID-KIDS) is a parenting intervention that allows mothers experiencing PPD symptoms to observe and improve their interactions with their infants. VID-KIDS has also positively influenced infants' stress (cortisol) patterns. There is limited research on maternal perspectives of interventions like VID-KIDS. In this hermeneutic study, four mothers were interviewed to increase understanding of the VID-KIDS experience. Key findings included: 1) VID-KIDS provided an opportunity for mothers with PPD symptoms to positively transform their identity; 2) VID-KIDS provided a chance to witness the mother-infant relationship forming and improve maternal mental health t, and; 3) VID-KIDS provided a space for mothers to dialogue about their experience with PPD symptoms authentically. VID-KIDS promoted healing from PPD as mothers experienced a transformation in how they perceived themselves and their relationships with their infants.

Beyond intensive mothering: Racial/ethnic variation in maternal time with children.

Despite substantial evidence that racial/ethnic minority communities exhibit distinct mothering practices, research on racial/ethnic differences in how mothers spend time with their children is scant. Using the 2003-2019 American Time Use Survey (N = 44,372), this study documents variations in the amounts of childcare and copresent time spent in various activities with residential children aged 0-17 across White, Black, Latina, and Asian mothers. The results show that racial/ethnic differences in maternal time spent with children are partly due to socioeconomic differences but still exist when these factors are held constant, indicating patterns that reflect each minority community's mothering norms. Compared to mothers in other groups, Black mothers spend more copresent time with children in religious activities, although less in terms of the total amount of time. Latina mothers spend more copresent time with elementary-school-age children while engaging in daily routines. Asian mothers spend more time teaching and eating with elementary-school-age or younger children.

Older mothers and their difficult adult children: a life course exploration.

Adult child to parent violence is a growing international social problem that needs to be better understood to develop clinical interventions. An exploratory study on the antecedents of early life adversity on adult child to parent violence/elder mistreatment was carried out using secondary analysis. Directed content analysis was used based on life course theory with a data set of older mothers all > 57 years old (J. R. Smith 2021, 2022). Measurement of instances of child abuse, domestic violence, and birth trauma among abused older mothers was conducted. All the older women had reported being negatively affected by their adult children's problems and 56% reported being physically attacked. A case example is presented to illustrate how repeated incidents of abuse or neglect in early life might explain an older woman's inability to take actions for her own safety.

"It makes me a better person": The unique experiences of parenting multiple children who experience neurodevelopmental disability.

BACKGROUND: Much research has explored how raising a child with a neurodevelopmental disability influences parents' well-being. However, little research has focused on the unique experiences of parenting multiple children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. We explored the unique experiences of parenting multiple children with neurodevelopmental disabilities with a focus on mothers' well-being and social participation. METHODS: Ten mothers who parent multiple children with neurodevelopmental disabilities participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analyzed using a reflexive thematic approach. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: 'Knowledge is power' described positive influences of enhanced disability knowledge and advocacy with each child who experienced disability. 'Shifts in wellbeing' acknowledged these mothers' exhaustion, decreased time for self-care, and invisible work, yet also increased feelings of empowerment, purpose and empathy for others. '(Dis)Connection and engagement with others' reflected struggles of balancing responsibilities, social and community participation, and experiences with isolation. Yet, mothers' also experienced enhanced disability community and family connections, and a sense of meaning and purpose. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Findings highlighted challenges, and many rewarding and unique experiences of parenting multiple children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Health, education and social service practitioners are encouraged to acknowledge parent's challenges, but also celebrate and draw on families' strengths and knowledge.

Understanding what shapes the priorities of women who are mothering in the context of intimate partner violence: A qualitative study.

AIM: To explore the priorities of women mothering children in the context of intimate partner violence and to understand what shapes those priorities. DESIGN: A qualitative study using interpretive description, informed by Feminist Intersectionality adhering to the COREQ guidelines. METHODS: Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. DATA SOURCES: Dialogic, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a community sample of 20 adult Canadian women who were mothering dependent children (under 18 years) in the context of recent intimate partner violence from a current or former partner. RESULTS: Women's main priorities focused on their own and their children's well-being and creating stability related to housing and finances. Three themes identified: it's all about the kids; my safety…totally disregarded; and I have to take care of him. Multiple external factors (coercive control, structural inequities, assumptions about mothering) shape priorities and the tensions arising from competing priorities women felt compelled to address simultaneously. CONCLUSION: Priorities of women mothering in the context of intimate partner violence are complex, shaped not only by what they want but by the limited options available to them given constraints such as income, employment, housing and service responses. Coercive control, structural inequities and assumptions about mothering are important factors influencing mothers' priorities and experiences. Better understanding mothers' priorities can support better tailored policies, services and nursing practice. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Structural inequities that negatively impact health and well-being by limiting access to resources and the supports needed to enhance health can be better recognized and addressed through a trauma and violence informed care approach. IMPACT: This study addressed understanding the priorities of women mothering in the context of intimate partner violence. This research will impact women mothering in the context of intimate partner violence who receive care from nurses and other providers as well as those who provide care. REPORTING METHOD: This study adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines (the COREQ checklist). NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The women who took part in the interviews for this study did not participate in the study design, analysis or manuscript preparation.

Mothering occupations: A review identifying mothering occupations.

INTRODUCTION: This review aimed to retrieve and collate a list of culturally relevant mothering occupations in the New Zealand context with mothers positioned as experts of their experience. Mothering occupations influence wellbeing and this study aimed to better inform on the daily occupations mothers participate in that contribute to feelings of maternal confidence. METHODS: Two main sources were used to identify mothering occupations: A systematic search of mothering literature, and participant additions. The first step involved mothering literature being searched, collated and condensed. The second step involved presenting the compiled list of mothering occupations to a panel of mothers for review and to invite additions. Mothers were asked to consider the occupations they participate in that evoke feelings of confidence and mastery in their mothering. Fifteen mothers with infants 12 to 18 months old were recruited, eight contributed to the mothering occupations list. RESULTS: A list of 203 items was collated then condensed based on the inclusion criteria for the participant group, and was tracked in a table. The list was reduced to 36 items. Eight participants added to the mothering occupations list, bringing the total number of items to 47. Mothers indicated through their contributions to the list that some types of mothering occupations are more relevant to them when considering feelings of maternal confidence and mastery. The mothers of this study indicated that connecting with their infant, their culture and nature are of high value to them. CONCLUSION: Developing a list of culturally relevant and relatable mothering occupations is a significant undertaking, highlighting the subjective experiences of mothers. Mothering occupations are vast and influenced by context. Mothers valuing some types of occupation more in relation to maternal confidence indicates a role for occupational therapy with this population to support with engagement and participation in occupations that promote wellbeing.

Mother phubbing and harsh mothering: Mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender as moderators.

BACKGROUND: While extant evidence supports the link between mother phubbing (Mphubbing) and harsh mothering, the current understanding of factors that may affect this relationship is limited. METHODS: Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between Mphubbing and harsh mothering, as well as to explore whether mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender would moderate this relationship. The participants included 482 middle school students (51.7 % girls) and their mothers from China. RESULTS: The results revealed a significant positive association between Mphubbing as reported by adolescents and their perception of harsh mothering. However, the predictive power of Mphubbing for harsh mothering varied based on mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender. Specifically, the association between Mphubbing and harsh mothering was perceived more strongly in girls than in boys, but this gender difference was only observed among adolescents whose mothers rated themselves as high in irritability. CONCLUSIONS: The current study offers a preliminary understanding of the association between Mphubbing and harsh mothering through mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender as moderators, which has certain theoretical and practical implications for comprehending harsh mothering in the digital age.

Measuring midwives' perceptions of their practice climate across racial-ethnic identities: An invariance analysis of the Midwifery Practice Climate Scale.

Diversification of the midwifery workforce is key to addressing disparities in maternal health in the United States. Midwives who feel supported in their practice environments report less burnout and turnover; therefore, creating positive practice environments for midwives of color is an essential component of growing and retaining midwives of color in the workforce. The Midwifery Practice Climate Scale (MPCS) is a 10-item instrument developed through multiphase empirical analysis to measure midwives' practice environments, yet the MPCS had not been independently tested with midwives of color. We conducted invariance analyses to test whether latent means can be compared between midwives of color and non-Hispanic White samples. A step-up approach applied a series of increasingly stringent constraints to model estimations with multiple group confirmatory factor analyses with two pooled samples. A configural model was estimated as the basis of multiple group comparisons where all parameters were allowed to freely vary. Metric invariance was estimated by constraining item factor loadings to be equal. Scalar invariance was estimated by constraining intercepts of indicators to be equal. Each model was compared to the baseline model. The findings supported scalar invariance of MPCS across midwives of color and non-Hispanic White midwives, indicating that the MPCS is measuring the same intended construct across groups, and that differences in scores between these two groups reflect true group differences and are not related to measurement error. Additionally, in this sample, there was no statistically significant difference in perceptions of the practice environments across midwives of color and non-Hispanic White midwives (p > 0.05).

"A Fire in my Belly:" Conceptualizing U.S. Women's Experiences of "Mom Rage".

"Mom rage" is a term growing in popularity that refers to the anger or rage that women experience as they make their way through motherhood. This study focuses on the maternal anger experiences of 65 mothers in the U.S. to explore how women describe and come to understand their experiences with "mom rage." Mothers in the study shared both their perceptions of "mom rage" experiences and their understanding of the personal and social implications of their anger. Findings demonstrated that women framed their experiences of "mom rage" in five ways: losing control, visualizing harm, expressing anger (with two sub-themes physical and emotional), reacting physiologically, and experiencing catharsis. Two additional themes highlighted how women's understanding of their "mom rage" experiences were grounded in identifying contributors to their mom rage episodes and evaluations of their mom rage experience. Study findings provide insight into the emotional complexities of navigating motherhood in the U.S. Implications for destigmatizing and supporting women through motherhood, as well as limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in London, England: An online focus group study.

Aims: This study examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in England, with the aim of identifying opportunities to improve maternal experience and wellbeing. The postpartum/postnatal period is widely acknowledged as a time when mothers require greater levels of support from multiple sources. However, stay-at-home orders, commonly known as "lockdown," deployed in some countries to limit COVID-19 transmission reduced access to support. In England, many postpartum mothers navigated household isolation within an intensive mothering and expert parenting culture. Examining the impact of lockdown may reveal strengths and weaknesses in current policy and practice. Subject and methods: We conducted online focus groups involving 20 mothers living in London, England, with "lockdown babies," following up on our earlier online survey on social support and maternal wellbeing. We thematically analysed focus group transcripts, and identified key themes around Lockdown Experience and Determinants of Lockdown Experience. Results: Participants raised some positives of lockdown, including fostering connections and protection from external expectations, but also raised many negatives, including social isolation, institutional abandonment, and intense relationships within the household. Potential reasons behind variations in lockdown experience include physical environments, timing of birth, and number of children. Our findings reflect how current systems may be "trapping" some families into the male-breadwinner/female-caregiver family model, while intensive mothering and expert parenting culture may be increasing maternal stress and undermining responsive mothering. Conclusions: Facilitating partners to stay at home during the postpartum period (e.g., increasing paternity leave and flexible working) and establishing peer/community support to decentre reliance on professional parenting experts may promote positive postpartum maternal experience and wellbeing. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01922-4.

Mothers' participation in family gatherings and social events with their children with autism spectrum disorder: A scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Participating in family gatherings can provide enjoyment and quality time together as a family. However, being the primary carers, mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder may experience this phenomenon differently. The purpose of this study is to explore how available literature describes mothers' experiences of participation in family gatherings and social events with their children with autism spectrum disorder. METHODS: A scoping review was used to explore available literature and identify studies describing mothers' experiences of family gatherings and social events with their children. A thematic synthesis was performed to analyse and synthesise the findings. RESULTS: A total of 8 articles were included for review. The analysis of the included studies resulted in one central theme-Negative experiences despite strategies-and four analytical themes: Feeling fear, stress, and anxiety; Avoiding family gatherings; Enjoying less and becoming less confident; and Using strategies. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulties during gatherings even when using strategies, hence limiting their participation.

Does having children matter? Associations between transitions in work-family role combinations and depressive symptoms among married women in Korea.

Although having a variety of roles is generally beneficial for mental health, little is known about the relationships between work-family role combinations and depressive symptoms among married women in Korea, where child rearing is strongly considered a mother's responsibility. This study examines how the four types of work-family role combinations may be associated with depressive symptoms among married Korean women younger than 50 years old. Data were collected from 2012 through 2020 in five surveys by the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women & Families. In total, 4811 married women (14,851 person-period observations) were analyzed using regression models with fixed effects. This enabled estimation of the within-person effects of transitions in work-family role combinations on depressive symptoms. Work-family role combinations were categorized as follows based on whether respondents had a job or at least one child: having both worker and mother roles, having a worker role only, having neither a worker nor a mother role, and having a mother role only. The findings indicate that married women who had only a mother role had more severe depressive symptoms than the other three groups. However, after controlling for whether respondents had a preschool-aged child, only those with both worker and mother roles had significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms compared with those with a mother role only. This study suggests that transitioning to being a working mother from a full-time mother may benefit the mental health of married Korean women. Furthermore, whether married women have a child critically impacts their mental health more than the number of roles. Raising a preschool-aged child seems to potentially be especially stressful for married Korean women. Working outside the home can protect the mental health of married Korean mothers who are affected by the social pressure to immerse themselves in child-rearing.

Longitudinal links among paternal and maternal harsh parenting, adolescent emotional dysregulation and short-form video addiction.

BACKGROUND: Due to its diversifying and appealing content, short-form videos have developed very rapidly since its emergence, with more and more users enjoying the transient pleasures from such videos, which have triggered widespread concern over the detrimental influence of short-form video addiction on adolescent health. OBJECTIVE: The present study intended to examine the longitudinal relations among paternal/maternal harsh parenting, adolescents' emotional dysregulation and their short-form video addiction using a cross-lagged longitudinal design. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We recruited a sample of 1064 adolescent students from two middle schools located in rural areas of eastern China. METHODS: Adolescents reported on paternal and maternal harsh parenting, their own emotional dysregulation and short-form video addiction at three time points across two years. Autoregressive and cross-lagged models were analyzed using three-wave variables to test the associations among parental (maternal) harsh parenting, adolescent emotional dysregulation, and short-form video addiction. A multi-group analysis was used to test for potential gender differences in the model. RESULTS: We found that harsh fathering but not harsh mothering contributed to adolescent emotional dysregulation, which in turn predicted adolescent short-form video addiction. However, the reverse longitudinal relationships did not exist. Multiple group analyses revealed that the predictive effect of harsh fathering on adolescent emotional dysregulation was stronger in boys. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings help clarify the complex relationships among harsh parenting, adolescent emotional dysregulation and short-form addiction, providing more effective guidance for prevention against adolescent short-form video addiction.

Poems Upon Reading "Say Goodbye to the Toddler Stars of the Pandemic Office Zoom" in Bloomberg Law.

I wrote the poems that comprise this work after reading a news article about the changing expectations of remote work and childcare. The article is ostensibly about negotiating the terms and expectations of remote work, yet it also read to me like a manual of maternal erasure. The message quickly evolves into making first care-work and then mothers disappear. The poems span from free verse, to limerick, to villanelle, concluding with a poem that, as its title announces, is not a poem at all. All are meant to speak(back) to discourses around mothering, care, and labor in the United States.

Towards a "New Mothering" Practice? The Life Experiences of Mothers Raising a Child with Autism in Urban Ethiopia.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurological and developmental disorder that has seen an increase in prevalence over the past two decades, particularly in low and middle-income countries. The purpose of the current paper is to examine the experiences of mothers in Ethiopia raising a child with ASD through employing a qualitative research design involving semi-structured interviews with twenty mothers. The experiences of mothers in this study fell into three thematic areas: (1) grieving and experiencing other emotions arising from the diagnosis of their child; (2) developing, understanding and defining autism; and (3) accepting the diagnosis and developing coping strategies for raising their child. The findings revealed that raising a child with autism introduced a new lifelong experience to mothers' everyday lives, profoundly changing their parenting role and transforming their view of mothering. Recognition of the experience of "new mothering" and mothers' meaning-making process, stress, coping mechanisms and resilience is critical to informing policies, programs, counseling and other therapeutic efforts to assist children with autism and their families for social workers in Ethiopia and those working with the Ethiopian diaspora in other regions of the world.

Enhancing parental reflective functioning: A special tribute to the life and work of Nancy E. Suchman, PhD.

Nancy E. Suchman's contributions to the fields of infant mental health, maternal reflective functioning, and attachment-based intervention will have long-lasting impacts. In particular, through the development and dissemination of her intervention program, Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO), she innovated a way of working with mothers with substance use disorders that represented a paradigm shift within the field of addiction. In this introduction to the special issue, written to honor her life and work, we review Nancy's background and briefly describe her academic accomplishments. The special issue contains nine qualitative and quantitative research reports written by Nancy's colleagues and their collaborators. All nine papers pertain to the theme of understanding, measuring, and promoting parents' capacity for reflective functioning. Four provide findings that advance our understanding of parental reflective functioning. The other five highlight insights from continuing evaluations of MIO, including new adaptations of the model. To introduce the special issue, we provide an overview of the scope of the work done within these projects. Finally, the special issue concludes with two commentaries contributed by Linda Mayes and Arietta Slade, leading scholars within the field who were also Nancy's close colleagues. Both provide insight into Nancy's impact on the field.

Las contribuciones de Nancy E Suchman a los campos de la salud mental infantil, del funcionamiento materno con reflexión y de la intervención con base en la afectividad tendrá un impacto duradero. Particularmente a través del desarrollo y divulgación de su programa de intervención, Cuidados Maternales de Dentro hacia Afuera (MIO), ella es innovadora de una manera de trabajar con madres con trastornos de uso de sustancias, lo cual representa un cambio de paradigma dentro del campo de la adicción. En esta introducción al número especial, dedicado en honor a su vida y trabajo, se examina la trayectoria profesional de Nancy y brevemente se describen sus logros académicos. El número especial contiene nueve reportes de investigación cualitativa y cuantitativa, escritos por colegas y colaboradores de Nancy. Todos los nueve ensayos se refieren al tema de cómo comprender, medir y promover la capacidad de los progenitores para el funcionamiento con reflexión. Cuatro de ellos aportan resultados que profundizan nuestra comprensión del funcionamiento con reflexión del progenitor. Los otros cinco resaltan ideas de las continuas evaluaciones del MIO, incluyendo nuevas adaptaciones del modelo. Para introducir el número especial, presentamos una revisión general del alcance del trabajo llevado a cabo en estos proyectos. Finalmente, el número especial concluye con dos comentarios que son contribución de Linda Mayes y Arietta Slade, líderes investigadoras profesionales dentro del campo y quienes también fueron colegas allegadas a Nancy. Ambas aportan ideas sobre el impacto que Nancy tiene en su campo.

Les contributions de Nancy E. Suchman aux domaines de la santé mentale du nourrisson et de la petite enfance, du fonctionnement de réflexion maternel et de l'intervention basée sur l'attachement auront des impacts à long terme. Plus particulièrement, au travers du développement et de la dissémination de son programme d'intervention Mothering from the Inside Out (MOI, en français le Maternage de l'Intérieur), elle a tracé une nouvelle voix innovatrice de travail avec des mères toxicomanes, voix représentant un changement de paradigme au sein même du domaine de l'addiction. Dans cette introduction à ce numéro spécial, écrite afin d'honorer sa vie et son travail, nous passons en revue le contexte personnel de Nancy et décrivons brièvement ses réalisations académiques. Ce numéro spécial contient neuf rapports de recherches qualitatives et quantitatives écrits par les collègues de Nancy et ses collaboratrices et collaborateurs. Ces neufs articles portent sur le thème de la compréhension, la mesure et la promotion de la capacité des parents à se consacrer au fonctionnement de réflexion. Quatre de ces articles offrent des conclusions qui font avancer notre compréhension du fonctionnement de réflexion parental. Les autres cinq articles mettent en lumière le travail émanant d'évaluations en cours du MOI, y compris de nouvelles adaptations du modèle. Pour présenter ce numéro spécial nous offrons un survol de la portée du travail fait au sein de ces projets. Enfin, ce numéro spécial conclut avec deux commentaires présentés par Linda Mayes et Arietta Slade, grandes spécialistes au sein de ce domaine de recherche, qui étaient aussi les proches collègues de Nancy. Elles nous offrent toutes deux un aperçu de l'impact qu'a eu Nancy sur ce domaine de recherches.

The Role of Latina Peer Mentors in the Implementation of the Alma Program for Women With Perinatal Depression.

This study examines the role that compañeras (peer mentors) play in the implementation of a program, Alma, which was designed to support Latina mothers who are experiencing depression during pregnancy or early parenting and implemented in the rural mountain West of the United States. Drawing from the fields of dissemination and implementation and Latina mujerista (feminist) scholarship, this ethnographic analysis demonstrates how the Alma compañeras facilitate the delivery of Alma by creating and inhabiting intimate mujerista spaces with other mothers and create relationships of mutual and collective healing in the context of relationships de confianza (of trust and confidence). We argue that these Latina women, in their capacity as compañeras, draw upon their cultural funds of knowledge to bring Alma to life in ways that prioritizes flexibility and responsiveness to the community. Shedding light on contextualized processes by which Latina women facilitate the implementation of Alma illustrates how the task-sharing model is well suited to the delivery of mental health services for Latina immigrant mothers and how lay mental health providers can be agents of healing.

Understanding health inequalities through a practice-oriented 'capabilities' perspective. Motherhood and leisure time physical activity.

In this article, we explore how a capabilities perspective can advance practice theoretic conceptualisations of persistent health inequalities. Specifically, we seek to understand the capabilities necessary for recruitment to leisure time physical activity (LTPA) practices by low SES mothers, a group traditionally excluded from LTPA. Our study illuminates that mothers living a life of social disadvantage face difficulties in becoming recruited to LTPA practices despite, in many cases, the availability of elements required for performance. We identify that temporal, support and energy capabilities are necessary for low SES mothers to become recruitable to LTPA. The dispossession of these capabilities signals inequalities in the constellation of practices that configure this group's lived experiences, in turn giving rise to practice absence and further consolidating patterns of inequality. We offer a framework of practice capabilities and health inequalities to guide future practice-oriented scholarship in the sociology of illness and health, which signals how capabilities may enable or constrain recruitment to health-promoting practices, give rise to inequalities and condition the possibility of practice absence.

What makes a good mother? Two decades of research reflecting social norms of motherhood.

Over the past two decades, scholars have investigated a multitude of different aspects of motherhood. This article provides a scoping review of research published from 2001 to 2021, covering 115 Social Science Citation Index-referenced papers from WEIRD countries, with the aim of reconstructing social norms around motherhood and mothers' responses to them. The analysis is theoretically based on normological and praxeological concepts. The findings reveal five contemporary norms of motherhood that reflect both stability and increasing differentiation, and are related to five types of mothers: the norms of being attentive to the child (present mother), of securing the child's successful development (future-oriented mother), of integrating employment into mothering (working mother), of being in control (public mother), and of being contented (happy mother). Relying on an intersectional lens, we analyze mothers' heterogeneous responses to these norms of motherhood, and examine how neoliberal demands build on and perpetuate inequalities.

Experiencing motherhood as a blind mother in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana; a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Females in developing countries are likely to suffer from visual impairment more than their male counterparts. People living with blindness or any other form of disability also have the right to reproduce and care for their children like all other humans. There is paucity of literature in the experiences of blind mothers in Ghana. Therefore, this study explored the experiences of blind mothers as they navigated the process of motherhood. METHODS: Qualitative exploratory descriptive design was used to conduct the study. Nineteen blind mothers were interviewed individually. Permission was sought for data to be audiotaped, transcribed and content analyzed inductively. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the data: mothering role and difficulties (sub-themes; feeding, disciplining and protection), mothering challenges (sub-themes; discrimination and prejudice, financial distress and psychological distress) and coping strategies (prayer, children and self-motivation). Most of the mothers reported difficulties in playing their roles in the areas of feeding, disciplining and protection. Challenges were poverty, discrimination, prejudices on their ability to be mothers and psychological distresses such as depression. They coped with their challenges with prayers, self motivation and the hope they had in their children. CONCLUSION: A lot of public education is needed to make the lives of people living with disability better. Health professionals must be trained to treat blind mothers with dignity and respect.