Creating paths: living with a very-low-birth-weight infant.

Objective: To describe parents' method of adaptation to the problems of caring for a very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infant at home.

Design: Exploratory, involving three interview sessions, 1 month, 3 months, and 5 months after hospital discharge of a VLBW infant.

Setting: A newborn intensive-care unit in a tertiary-care center.

Participants: Fourteen parents of VLBW (< 1,500 g) infants after hospital discharge.

Results: A basic social process, Creating Paths, was identified. It is the continuous process experienced by parents living with a VLBW infant the first 5 months after hospital discharge. The process consists of three stages: gathering, emerging, and affirming.

Conclusions: This grounded theory systematically tracks and describes the adaptation process of parents with VLBW infants during the first 5 months of living at home. The theory may be used to anticipate concerns and provide guidance and support to parents and their infants.