Diane Brage Hudson

Couples’ Experiences with Fatigue during the Transition to Parenthood

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine mothers’ and fathers’ reports of fatigue prior to and after the birth of their first child. Data from 44 couples were collected from the 9th month of the mothers’ pregnancy to 4 months postpartum. Both parents’ reports of fatigue significantly increased from before to 1 month after the birth of the child, then remained stable. Mothers’and fathers’level of fatigue did not differ after the birth of the child, although fathers experienced a greater change in their reports of fatigue than mothers. Couples always reported less morning fatigue than nighttime fatigue but still reported mild to moderate levels of morning fatigue. At different times, the mother’s fatigue was related to her marital satisfaction, depression, income, and maternity leave; the father’s fatigue was most often related to his age, income, and depression. Implications for family functioning, nursing assessment, and family interventions are discussed.

Needs, Concerns, and Social Support of Single, Low-Income Mothers

The purposes of this qualitative pilot study were to describe needs and concerns of single, low-income mothers and to evaluate social support mechanisms these mothers valued during the transition to parenthood. Qualitative analysis consisted of word and context interpretation from focus group data. The following themes resulted from the discussion: (a) transition: resilience, finding new direction, and an array of emotions and mixed feelings; (b) stress: loss, isolation, and barriers; and (c) social support: positive and negative social support, and the need for informational, appraisal, emotional, and tangible support. Nursing interventions are discussed.

New Mothers Network The Provision of Social Support to Single, Low-Income, African American Mothers Via E-Mail Messages

Electronic mail (e-mail) is being investigated as a health care intervention for mothers caring for their infants. The purpose of this study is to describe themes representing the content of e-mail messages written by 12 single, low-income, African American mothers to nurses participating in the New Mothers Network Study. Three themes that emerged were (a) lifes logistics: day-to-day concerns; (b) relationships of support; and (c) personal reflections about being a new mother. Reported themes support the social support theory based on works by House and Revenson, Schiaffano, Majerovitz, and Gibofski used to develop the nursing intervention. Nurses are in key positions to offer social support to African American mothers adjusting to single parenting. Nurses can provide social support to single, low-income African American mothers via e-mail messages to assist them with caring for themselves and their infants.

Effects of high-risk pregnancies on families

Purpose:To examine the psychosocial impact a high-risk pregnancy has on the family and to identify family strengths and how these strengths help families meet the challenges inherent in high-risk pregnancies. Study Design and Method:A descriptive study using naturalistic inquiry was used to interview women who were currently pregnant and had differing high-risk obstetric health issues. Data collection for this study included semi-structured, one-on-one audiotaped interviews, observations, and a biographic profile completed by the participant. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and data were examined, coded, clustered, and sorted into specific categories. Trustworthiness included member checks and audit trails. Results:Three themes emerged from the data about psychosocial impact. Mixed Emotions described the women’s perception of a high-risk pregnancy; Adjustment and Support was how the women described their family’s experience with the high-risk pregnancy; and Informative Care arose from the women’s explanation of care received. The most common family strength identified was the ability to manage stress and crisis, followed by commitment, appreciation and affection, a sense of spiritual well-being, and enjoyable time together. The least common strength identified was positive communication. Clinical Implications:A high-risk pregnancy not only affects women, but it also causes an alteration in family functioning. Nurses need to become familiar with family strengths and help families recognize their strengths when faced with significant life events.

Effects of an Internet Intervention on Mothers’ Psychological, Parenting, and Health Care Utilization Outcomes

Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to test the effects of an Internet-based intervention, the New Mothers Network, on single, low-income, adolescent, African American mothers’ psychological, parenting, and health care utilization outcomes. Background: The study was based on social support theory. Methods: For mothers in the Intervention Group, MSNTV™ was installed in subjects’ homes and connected to the Internet. Data were collected at 1 week, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months following the infant’s birth. Results: For infant health services utilization, 70.6% of those in the Control Group took their infant to the emergency room at least once during the study compared to 35.7% of mothers in the Intervention Group. The New Mothers Network allowed mothers to share their experiences and acquire information from nurses about caring for themselves and their infants. Conclusion: The New Mothers Network Web site is well poised for nursing driven social support intervention via the Internet, even though access devices are evolving over time.

Using the concept of family strengths to enhance nursing care

This article was written to help nurses better understand the family strengths framework and encourage them to incorporate family strengths into the nursing care they give. In times of stress or crisis for families, nurses can use the conceptual framework of family strengths as a mechanism to promote strong, healthy relationships. The family strengths perspective identifies and builds on positive attributes in family functioning. Family strengths qualities are (a) commitment, (b) appreciation and affection, (c) positive communication, (d) time together, (e) a sense of spiritual well-being, and (f) the ability to cope with stress and crisis. With the family strengths approach, nurses help families define their visions and hopes for the future instead of looking at what factors contribute to family problems. Family strengths assessment can be used in nursing practice, nursing education, and everyday life.

You can’t put a dollar amount on presence: young, non-resident, low-income, african american fathers

Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of young, non-resident, low-income, African-American fathers. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 6 men enrolled in the Omaha Healthy Start, Fathers for a Lifetime Program. Results: The following themes were identified: (a) A Work in Progress: Fatherhood Investment; (b) A Little Island by Myself: Barriers to Fathering; (c) I’m Going to be There From Day One to Infinity: Presence; and (d) The Tomorrow Dad: Not Like my Dad. Barriers to fathering created resource-poor environments posing challenges to involvement. Conclusions: Dispelling the myth of the “hit-and-run” father or the “package deal” remains a concern for fathers and their children. Nurses can develop early assessment strategies and interventions to help African American fathers with their parenting involvement. Fathers can be encouraged to attend community-based fathering programs to increase investment opportunities.

Social support and psychosocial well-being among low-income, adolescent, African American, first-time mothers

Aims: The aims of this study are to describe for single, low-income, adolescent, African American new mothers how (1) primary sources of social support changed over time, (2) the level of social support (emotional, informational, tangible, and problematic) from these primary sources changed over time, and (3) social support from the primary supporter was associated with mothers’ psychosocial well-being (self-esteem and loneliness) over time. Design: A secondary analysis was conducted of data from a previous social support intervention study. Sample: The sample consisted of 35 single, low-income, adolescent (mean [SD] age, 18.3 [1.7] years), African American new mothers. Methods: Mothers completed social support, self-esteem, and loneliness instruments at 1 and 6 weeks and 3 and 6 months postpartum. Results: Most mothers (64.7%) had changes in their primary social support provider during the first 6 months postpartum. The combination of the adolescent’s mother and boyfriend provided the highest level of support, no matter the type, relative to any other source of support. At every time point, positive correlations were found between emotional support and self-esteem and between problematic support and loneliness. Conclusion: Single, low-income, African American, adolescent new mothers are at risk for not having a consistent source of support, which may lead to lower self-esteem and greater loneliness. Implications: Clinical nurse specialists could facilitate care guidelines for these new mothers to identify their sources of support at each home visit and advocate for the adolescent’s mother and boyfriend to work together to provide support. Bolstering the mothers’ natural sources of support can potentially improve self-esteem and reduce loneliness. Improvement in these sources of support could prevent a decline in the mothers’ psychosocial well-being. Development and testing support interventions are advocated; findings could guide clinical nurse specialists in addressing these new mothers’ needs.

Mexican American mothers' eating and child feeding behaviors.

Objective: The purpose of this study of Mexican-American mothers of 2–6 year old children was to explore the relationships among maternal attitude, perceived behavioral controls, mother’s intent, mother’s regulation of her own Simple Carbohydrate Intake (SCI), and mother’s child feeding behaviors. The overall objective was to increase understanding of the complex process of intention to eat healthy. Methods: A prospective exploratory design using a convenience sample of a cohort of 82 Mexican-American mothers was used in this study. Structured questionnaires were selected to measure cognitive restraint, disinhibition, hunger, intent to regulate SCI, and mothers’ monitoring, restricting, and pressuring of children’s diets. Descriptive statistics and correlations were analyzed for each relationship. Results: The relationships between disinhibition, hunger, cognitive restraint, and the intent variable were significant. More than half of these mothers reported limiting soda and candy for themselves. According to the Food Frequency Questionnaire, mothers were regulating only one-third of simple carbohydrate items they intended to regulate. Significant relationships were found between mothers’ regulation of her specific SCI and her control of child feeding behaviors including pressuring, monitoring, and restricting. Conclusion: The findings support the idea that mother’s eating behaviors, attitudes, and intent may affect how they feed their pre-school children. Nurses need to develop and test interventions targeted at educating Mexican-American mothers about healthy food choices and healthy child feeding behaviors.

Enhanced New Mothers Network Cell Phone Application Intervention: Interdisciplinary Team Development and Lessons Learned

ABSTRACT Single, low-income, African American mothers experience challenges caring for themselves and their infants. Nurse researchers, providing creative and theoretically based approaches for complex client health care, are increasingly becoming interdisciplinary leaders on research teams. The first purpose of this article was to describe this interdisciplinary team’s development of a cellular (cell) phone application (app), the Enhanced New Mothers Network (ENMN). The second purpose of this article was to describe lessons learned by nursing members of the interdisciplinary team members about developing a cell phone app for delivery of the ENMN intervention. Interdisciplinary research is beneficial where providing interventions to assist patients to achieve optimal health outcomes is rarely dependent on the work of one profession.