This is a qualitative study whose purpose was to check with mothers the meaning and significance of remaining in the hospital and their participation and autonomy in the care of the hospitalized child. The field research was carried out through participant observation and through interviews with mothers. The inclusion of the mother in the care of the child has been taking place in a subtle way, and the mother has been taking on procedures which nurses were formerly in charge of, concentrating information about the therapeutic process. Nurses establish a hierarchical relation of domination-subordination with the mothers, who create some autonomy breaks in everyday situations. The lack of a collective therapeutic project in a perspective of care focused on the family is one of the obstacles to the involvement of the mother in the assistance.
pediatric nursing; mother-child relations; personal autonomy