Sandra G. Funk

Parental Stressor Scale: neonatal intensive care unit.

This article is a report of the development of the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS:NICU), which is designed to measure parental perception of stressors arising from the physical and psychosocial environment of the neonatal intensive care unit. Stress theory, literature reviews, expert consultation, and parent interviews guided instrument development and refinement and established the content validity of the instrument. Construct validity is supported by links with theory, correlation with anxiety measures, and factor analytic results. Alpha coefficients support the tools internal consistency. Three scales were identified: Parental Role Alterations, Sights and Sounds of the Unit, and Infant Behavior and Appearance. Available metrics allow scoring for stress occurrence levels, overall stress levels, and number of stressors experienced. The PSS:NICU can serve as a research or clinical measure to evaluate stressors experienced by parents with infants in a NICU.

Administrators' views on barriers to research utilization.

UCCESSFUL application of research findings to practice requires collaboration between researchers, administrators, and clinicians (Rogers, 1992). Researchers have responsibility for the generation of the science and its integrity, and for presentation of findings to the practice community. Administrators are responsible for creating an institutional climate that fosters and promotes research use, whereas clinicians are responsible for the adaptation, implementation, and clinical evaluation of the research.

The neonatal intensive care unit environment: sources of stress for parents.

Many aspects of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are stressful to parents, including prolonged hospitalization, alterations in parenting, exposure to a technical environment, and the appearance of their small, fragile infant. To identify potential NICU stressors for parents, levels of stress these experiences engender, and their relationship to anxiety, parents of infants hospitalized in three NICUs were interviewed using the Parental Stressor Scale: NICU and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Alterations in parental role caused by the infants illness generated the greatest stress. The second highest areas of stress were the infants appearance and behavior. State anxiety levels were higher than normative means and significantly related to stress scores.

Cancer and the partner relationship: What is its meaning?*

When cancer occurs, it is an illness that has meaning for the lives of all members of the family. This article focuses on the meaning and significance of the illness for the partner relationship, both the individuals within the relationship and the dyad. Results of two studies are presented: one study is based on in-depth interviews with 50 individuals who were newly diagnosed with cancer and their partners, and the other study used questionnaires from 412 patients and 175 partners to obtain statistical data. Findings pointed to the importance of meaning in the adjustment of individuals, as well as the dyad. Interview data indicated that patients and their partners searched for meaning in the illness that would decrease its threat, and statistical analyses showed the significance of meaning as it applies to specific aspects of adjustment. The importance of considering meaning in care that is directed toward the prevention of problems within the dyad, which can occur as a result of coping with the stress of cancer are emphasized, and some specific recommendations are made.

IN-HOME INTERVENTION FOR DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS WITH LOW-INCOME MOTHERS OF INFANTS AND TODDLERS IN THE UNITED STATES

Depressive symptoms in low-income mothers negatively affect infant–toddler development. This pilot study tested a short-term, home-based depressive symptom intervention with 16 African American and White, Non-Hispanic mothers in Early Head Start (EHS) programs who were randomly assigned to intervention and usual care/waiting list conditions. Mothers met in their homes with masters-prepared psychiatric mental health nurses who worked with them to improve their management of depressive symptoms and life issues, use of social support, and parenting. The intervention group showed a significantly greater decrease from baseline in depressive symptom severity at 8 and 16 weeks in contrast to the mothers receiving usual care. Observations of maternal interactions showed improvement in the intervention mothers. The results support testing on a larger scale.

Preschool Speech and Language ScreeningA Review of Currently Available Tests

Fifty-one preschool speech-language screening tests were reviewed with regard to criteria crucial to screening test selection: professional time required, comprehensiveness, norms, and reliability/...

Preschool prediction of early school performance: Relationship of McCarthy scales of children's abilities prior to school entry to achievement in kindergarten, first, and second grades

Two studies assessing the predictive validity of the McCarthy Scales of Childrens Abilities (MSCA) are reported. In Study 1, the MSCA was administered prior to school entry to a stratified sample of 129 children chosen from a countywide cohort, with oversampling of those at risk for developmental delay. California Achievement Tests (CATs), retention, and special education outcomes were assessed in kindergarten, first, and second grades. Preschool MSCA scale scores showed significant positive correlation with achievement outcomes (r=.35–.70). Children who scored low (<68 or between 68 and 84) on the MSCA General Cognitive Index (GCI) had significantly lower CAT scores in all grades than did children scoring within the normal range (≥84) on the GCI. By second grade 94% of children scoring less than 68 on the preschool GCI and 74% of those scoring between 68 and 84 on the GCI had failed a grade, had been placed in special education classes, or were scoring in the bottom 20% of their cohort on the CATs in that year. In Study 2, these results were replicated through first grade for a second cohort.

Impact of a parent's cancer on adult children: role and relationship issues.

The diagnosis and initial treatment of a parent for cancer is a highly stressful process that generates a variety of concerns for adult children. This study describes the initial effect of a parents cancer on adult children. Adult childrens concerns about role and relationship issues emerged as major themes in the content analysis of their interviews.

Preschool Denver Developmental Screening Testas a predictor of later school problems

We compared three preschool tests as predictors of school problems at the end of first grade. A stratified sample of 113 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-year-old children, oversampling those at risk for developmental difficulties, was administered the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST), the Stanford-Binet IQ test (SB), and a two-stage shortened form of the DDST in the spring before school entry. Data from achievement tests, special class placement, and grade retention were obtained for 106 of the children at the end of first grade. Eighty-four percent of children with abnormal DDST scores had school difficulties by the end of first grade, compared with 47% of children with scores in the questionable range and only 15% of children in the normal range. Prediction from the SB was not as accurate; 72% of the children who scored less than 68 and 42% of those who scored between 68 and 84 on the preschool SB had school problems. Prediction for those children who had abnormal or questionable scores on the two-stage DDST was as good as prediction from the full DDST. However, far fewer of the total number of school problems were identified by the two-stage DDST. It appears that the DDST can be used on an individual basis for prediction of school problems.

Preschool speech and language screening : Further validation of the Sentence Repetition Screening Test

A recent review indicated that only one speech and language screening test (the Sentence Repetition Screening Test; SRST) designed for preschoolers has been successfully validated in a representative population. This study sought to replicate the SRST validation study using a somewhat younger age group and to compare predictive indices to typical measures of parent concern and teacher judgment. A sample of (N=343) prekindergarten children (ages 54 to 66 months) attending school registration in the spring before kindergarten entry was tested with the SRST. A stratified sample of 76 returned for criteria testing within 2 months. Teacher ratings were obtained 5 months later. Outcome measures were standard language (Bankson and Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities) and speech articulation (Arizona) tests. With a prevalence of 11%, SRST prediction of language outcomes resulted in the following indices: sensitivity, .62; specificity, .91; predictive validity, .44; overreferral, 8.4%; and underreferral, 4%. Prediction of the articulation outcome with a prevalence of 11% resulted in indices as follows: sensitivity, .57; specificity, .95; predictive validity, .75; overreferral, 3.7%; and underreferral, 8.3%. Teacher ratings and a parent questionnaire (Speech and Language Screening Questionnaire) approached the same rate of prediction of articulation but with a higher overreferral rate. The predictive indices from the SRST exceeded the comparison measures for language outcomes.