A Qualitative Exploration of Maternal Anxiety: Implications for Helping Professionals.

Objectives: To gain insight into the nature of maternal anxiety among mothers from diverse cultures through exploring the components of maternal anxiety and ways mothers cope with it in order to assist helping professionals in providing psychoeducation and counseling to mothers who experience intense anxiety regarding their children. Methods: In this qualitative study, 17 mothers participated in cognitive interviews conducted as a part of the maternal anxiety scale development. Data from semi-structured interviews was explored using thematic analysis. Results: Four themes related to mothers' experiences of anxiety emerged from the data: (1) maternal insecurities and social comparison, (2) coping with anxiety, (3) dependence versus autonomy, (4) cultural considerations. Conclusions for Practice: The results of this study can be used by helping professionals working with mothers by implementing emotion regulation skills for maternal anxiety that are described in the implications section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]