| Author: | Leung, Sui-foon Itea |
| Title: | Maternal perceptions of nursing support during the hospitalization of their low birth weight infant in the neonatal intensive care unit |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Maternity nursing -- China -- Hong Kong -- Case studies Neonatal intensive care -- China -- Hong Kong -- Case studies |
| Department: | School of Nursing |
| Pages: | xi, 111 leaves ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The birth of a premature baby is a crisis to family. Parents are particularly vulnerable because their dream of expecting a perfect child is broken. In return, they have to face this traumatic experience with sense of grief and loss. On the other hand, the premature infant may experience prolonged hospitalization due to multiple medical problems related with prematurity. These experiences are so tense that they often have difficulty to cope with. Nursing support is, therefore, an essential element in helping parents in coping with the crisis. A descriptive study was undertaken to assess the importance of nursing support to mothers and to evaluate the level of support received by the mothers. The study was conducted in two phases. In phase one, a questionnaire of 21 items of "Nurse Parent Support Tool" was undertaken by 37 mothers in a NICU. The objectives were to identify the importance of nursing support and the level of received support as perceived by mothers of low birth weight infants. While in the second phase, 6 in-depth interviews were completed with mothers following their children's discharge from hospital. The purpose was to describe maternal experiences of nursing support perceived during the hospitalization of their infants. Content validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were performed and the results were good. Statistical comparisons of the means of overall and sub-domains of the importance and received nursing support were performed. The qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. The data suggested mothers rated all nursing support items were important. However, it was evidenced from the results that mean level of received nursing support were lower than mean of importance of nursing support perceived by mothers of low birth weight infants. There had a mean difference in the perceived and the received of nursing support in the clinical arena. These findings demonstrated that parents desired more nursing support than were received, particularly in the area of the supportive communication and information giving. Comparatively, emotional support was rated less important as well as received less than the other three domains of support. The findings of interviews were a compliment to illustrate the importance of nursing support and were in congruent with the quantitative findings. The specific experience on various aspects of domain of nursing support from mothers of low birth weight infants had further delineated the concept of nursing support in the NICU. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b17452351.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.15 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Copyright Undertaking
As a bona fide Library user, I declare that:
- I will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the Database.
- I will use the Database for the purpose of my research or private study only and not for circulation or further reproduction or any other purpose.
- I agree to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.
By downloading any item(s) listed above, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the copyright undertaking as stated above, and agree to be bound by all of its terms.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/2476