Parents of Pre-term Infants Essay -- social workers, parental stress,

Article Review One The first article, Parents of Pre-term Infants Two Months after Discharge from the Hospital: Are They Still at (Parental) Risk? (Olshtain-Mann, O. & Auslander, G. K , 2008), describes a study in Israel that was designed to gain further understanding of † the emotional state and functioning of parents of pre-term infants, after an initial period of adjustment following the infants’ discharge from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)†. Specifically, this study compared the stress levels of parents and self-perceptions of competence as parents among mothers and fathers, two months after discharge of their babies from the hospital. The study compared parents of pre-term babies with parents of full-term babies. A target group of 80 pairs of parents of pre-term babies and a non-matched comparison group of 80 pairs of parents of full-term babies were interviewed for the study. Respondents were selected as follows: All couples (both mothers and fathers) in both groups were Hebrew speaking. The target group had pre-term infants who were hospitalized in the NICU of any of three hospitals in Jerusalem during 2001-2002. These premature babies weighed less than 3.85 pounds and were born in the 36th week or earlier. All were treated in the NICU for one week or more. According to the article, exclusions included parents of children who were not expected to survive or those who had congenital abnormalities. Parents of the full-term babies had infants who were born in the same time period, and in the same hospitals, as the target group. All babies in both groups were singletons. The interviews were conducted by social workers and followed a specific protocol. A further questionnaire was completed by both mothers and fa... ...e employed to develop programs that will offer support to the new parents of higher risk children. Works Cited Olshtain-Mann, O. & Auslander, G. K. (2008). Parents of pre-term infants two months after discharge from the hospital: Are they still at (parental) risk? Health & Social Work, 33(4), 299-308. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/210554738?accountid=8289 Pierrehumbert, B., Nicole, A., Muller-Nix, C., Forcada-Guex, M., Ansermet, F. Parental post- traumatic reactions after premature birth: implications for sleeping and eating problems in the infant. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2003;88:5 F400-F404 doi:10.1136/fn.88.5.F400 Dacey, J., Travers, J. & Fiore, L. (2009) Human Development Across the Lifespan. (7th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Cogburn, N., Cogburn, N. personal communications, April 5, 2014.