The reason Nurses need to be aware and concerned about is the levels of distress experienced by mothers because it can have an impact on the mother-infant relationship. Increased levels of distress are associated with decreased contact with infant, specifically contact that promotes cognitive development and decreased warmth and flexibility shown by the mother. “Maternal warmth and sensitivity moderates the effects of preterm birth an attential defects, hyperactivity and internalizing problems such as social inhibitions and separation anxiety”. Very low birth weight infants show less clear behavioral cues (Zelkowitz, Bardin Papageorgiou, 2007). Because of this, parents of these very low birth weight infants may need greater support to help
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“It is believed to be genetically predetermined”. When the mother interacted with the infant and they saw disorganization, autonomic and physiological instability, and poor arousal, the mother saw this as the infant having a difficult temperament. This causing a negative effect on the parent-infant relationship. An important find was the amount of travel time to the unit was linked to the maternal perception of the infant; finding that the more time travelled increased the risk of the maternal perception of the infant being difficult (Samra & Wey, 2013). Continuing with infant temperament, the maternal confidence was also linked to the maternal perception of the infant’s temperament. Parents of premature infants are found to be less confident than parents of full term infants, putting most families in NICU’s at risk. However, putting the out of town families at more risk, is that it has been found that parents who had adequate social support were more confident. And as previously discussed, parents from out of town have not got an adequate support system, therefore at greater risk of feeling less confident with their …show more content…
The parent’s decision on where to spend their time can be impacted by; care of siblings, demands of employment, cost of the trip and the travelling distance. Siblings can have a huge impact on the parent’s decision making. Agazio, Ephraim, Flahery & Gurney, 2003, found that 61% of siblings did not cope well with having a sibling in hospital out of town and subsequently effected the parents decision making on what to do and where their responsibilities lie. The care of the sibling is also a factor when only one parent is at home. In the case of one parent staying in the NICU and one staying at home, families have described it is having the their family split in two different locations. Although these issues were distressing at the time, when families reflected back to their NICU journey, most felt that it had strengthened their family unit as a result (Agazio, Ephraim, Flaherty & Gurney,
“It is believed to be genetically predetermined”. When the mother interacted with the infant and they saw disorganization, autonomic and physiological instability, and poor arousal, the mother saw this as the infant having a difficult temperament. This causing a negative effect on the parent-infant relationship. An important find was the amount of travel time to the unit was linked to the maternal perception of the infant; finding that the more time travelled increased the risk of the maternal perception of the infant being difficult (Samra & Wey, 2013). Continuing with infant temperament, the maternal confidence was also linked to the maternal perception of the infant’s temperament. Parents of premature infants are found to be less confident than parents of full term infants, putting most families in NICU’s at risk. However, putting the out of town families at more risk, is that it has been found that parents who had adequate social support were more confident. And as previously discussed, parents from out of town have not got an adequate support system, therefore at greater risk of feeling less confident with their …show more content…
The parent’s decision on where to spend their time can be impacted by; care of siblings, demands of employment, cost of the trip and the travelling distance. Siblings can have a huge impact on the parent’s decision making. Agazio, Ephraim, Flahery & Gurney, 2003, found that 61% of siblings did not cope well with having a sibling in hospital out of town and subsequently effected the parents decision making on what to do and where their responsibilities lie. The care of the sibling is also a factor when only one parent is at home. In the case of one parent staying in the NICU and one staying at home, families have described it is having the their family split in two different locations. Although these issues were distressing at the time, when families reflected back to their NICU journey, most felt that it had strengthened their family unit as a result (Agazio, Ephraim, Flaherty & Gurney,