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Abraham, Jane L. "Mother and infant communication: mothers' experiences and infants' preferences." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39157.
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Two longitudinal studies were conducted to explore the mother-infant communication process during the first four months of postnatal life. One study focused on mothers' experiences communicating with their infants. Forty-seven mothers were interviewed when their infants were 6 to 8 weeks of age; 42 of the same mothers were interviewed when their infants were 16 to 18 weeks of age. Mothers were asked questions about their interactions with their infants, how they talked to their infants, why they talked to their infants, how they learned to talk to their infants, and what th,eir beliefs were about the relationship between talking to infants and development. A model was constructed from these data, conceptualizing the communication process between mothers and their young infants. Four themes were identified: expert advice influenced some mother-infant communication; mothers and infants co-regulated some of their communication; maternal communication behaviors were consistent across age and ethnicity; and experience talking to pets influenced some new mothers' speaking styles.Ph. D.
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SPINELLI, MARIA. "Parenting preterm infants: implications for mothers and mother- infant relationship." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/45026.
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Prematurity and the associated neonatal complications are identified as risk factors that may bring psychological complications both for the baby’s development and for the early mother-infant relationship. The birth of a preterm infant, the sudden end of the pregnancy, and infant’s hospitalization, often represent stressful experiences for parents. Therefore, premature birth may affect parental perceptions and attitudes, thereby distorting parent-child interactions and relationship.
The present dissertation aims to examine the complex experience of parenting a preterm infant from a transactional perspective with a mixed method design. The theoretical framework integrates the transactional model of development, attachment theory and recent theories of infant research. Three studies, analyzing the phenomenon from different perspectives and using different methodological frameworks, are reported.
The first study qualitatively analyzed narratives of 30 preterm infant mothers. Mothers were interviewed during infant hospitalization on the experiences of pregnancy, delivery and infant recovery. The thematic analysis revealed three major themes relevant for mothers: The construction of maternal identity, The construction of the representation of the bond with the child; The relationship with the healthcare providers and external world.
The second study is a microanalysis of mother-infant’s emotion regulation and play during free play interactions at 3 and 6 months of infant’s age. Comparisons between 22 preterm and 20 full-term infant dyads revealed more differences at a maternal and dyadic level than at the infant’s level. Mother-premature infant dyads presented a typical interactive style characterized by maternal overstimulation and the tendency to lead the interaction. These dyads showed more difficulties to adjust their interaction to infant’s growth and more interactive risk indicators emerged at 6 months. The role of infant and maternal characteristics and maternal attachment models as protective and risk factors was explored.
The third study examined perinatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the levels of parenting stress in 156 mothers of full-term children and 87 mothers of preterm children. This study proposed a mediating role of PTSD symptoms between preterm/full-term birth and levels of parenting stress. The mothers were asked to complete a Web survey assessing perinatal PTSD symptoms, parenting stress and social support. The findings showed that mothers of preterm children experienced more post-traumatic symptoms and parenting stress than did mothers of full-term children. Levels of PTSD symptoms were higher for mothers with infants born at lower gestational age. The relationship between preterm/full-term birth and levels of parenting stress was mediated by PTSD symptoms. Moreover, the child’s age moderated the association between maternal PTSD and parenting stress.
The discussions of the three studies are integrated in the final conclusions. Findings suggest that prematurity have implications for mothers’ transition to parenthood and for the development of mother-infant relationship confirming the need to examine the phenomenon from a transactional perspective. Implications for preventive interventions are addressed.
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Sterling, John W. (John Wilson). "Mother-Infant Interaction with Facially Deformed Infants." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1986. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331799/.
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This study investigated the interactions of facially deformed infants (FD) with their mothers compared to a facially nondeformed control group (FND). All mother-infant dyads were videotaped for 10 minutes during a free play period. Mothers were instructed to spend time with their baby as they normally would. The videotaped interactions of 14 FD dyads and 14 FND dyads were rated by five raters for quality of interactions, amount of vocalization, touch, and face-to-face gaze. The infants were rated on their level of attractiveness from polaroid pictures and videotapes. Mothers also completed a questionnaire which assessed their infants' temperament. Three of the studies' four hypotheses were confirmed. First, the more attractive an infant was, the better his/her interactions with the mother were judged to be. Second, FD infant dyads were rated as significantly poorer in quality of interaction than FND dyads, although FD* dyads did not spend significantly less time vocalizing, touching, or in face-to-face gaze as predicted. A significantly higher percentage of FD infants were judged as having difficult temperament relative to FND infants. Finally, as predicted it was found that infants with difficult temperaments were more likely to exhibit poorer quality interactions than infants with less difficult temperaments. These results have important implications for providing anticipatory guidance to caregivers of FD infants. Without intervention, FD infants appear at risk for subsequent developmental problems stemming from disrupted early mother-infant interactions. Future research should focus on these interactions soon after the infant's birth, attempt to determine if FD infants' emotions can be reliably understood from their facial expressions (as has been found in normal infants) and extend the current research paradigm to include fathers of FD infants.
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Monnot, Marilee. "Mother-infant communication and infant health." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.627416.
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Reyna, Barbara. "Mother-Infant Synchrony during Infant Feeding." VCU Scholars Compass, 2010. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/157.
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MOTHER-INFANT SYNCHRONY DURING INFANT FEEDING By Barbara A. Reyna, PhD A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. Major Director: Rita H. Pickler, PhD Endowed Nursing Alumni Professor Department of Family and Community Health Nursing, School of Nursing Synchrony between a mother and her infant is fundamental to their developing relationship. Feeding is an essential activity that provides an opportunity for interaction between a mother and her infant and may lead to synchronous interaction. The purpose this study was to develop and test a coding system, the Maternal-Infant Synchrony Scale (MISS), for assessing synchrony of feeding interaction between a mother and her preterm infant. The secondary aims were to: (1) describe mother and preterm infant synchrony during feeding; (2) examine mother-infant synchrony during feeding over time; (3) examine the mediating effects of infant severity of illness, behavior state, birth gestation, and birth weight, and maternal depression, and maternal responsiveness and sensitivity on mother-infant synchrony; and (4) test the criterion-related validity of the synchrony scale. A descriptive, longitudinal design using data collected during an earlier study was employed; a sample dataset from 10 mother-infant dyads that completed three data collection points (30 observations total) was used. Data were also collected on maternal depression and responsiveness and sensitivity and dyadic tension and reciprocity. For this analysis, scores for infant severity illness and behavior state were computed. The Noldus Observer XT 8.0 (Noldus Information Technology b.v., 2006) was used for data review and coding. The MISS was created by determining the frequency of select behaviors and the percentage of time behaviors occurred during the feeding; changes in behaviors over the three observations periods were calculated. Mothers were attentive and focused during feedings. The influence of infant maturation on feeding behaviors was evident across observations; infant attempts at interaction (gazing at mother) were greater than the mother attempts to engage her infant. MISS scores were not significantly different over the observations, the selected mediators had no significant effect on synchrony, and the criterion validity for the MISS was not established. This study revealed behaviors that are descriptive of the interaction and can be used to develop interventions that would support the developing relationship. Use of the MISS with a larger sample size and a cohort of healthy, term newborns is needed to establish the MISS as a valid and reliable measure of synchrony.
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Papaeliou, Christina. "Infant prosodic expressions in mother-infant communication." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/17771.
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Prosody, generally defined as any perceivable modulation of duration, pitch or loudness in the voice that conveys meaning, has been identified as part of the linguistic system, or compared with the sound system of Western classical music. This thesis proposes a different conception, namely that prosody is a phenomenon of human expression that precedes, and to a certain extent determines the form and function of utterances in any particular language or music system. Findings from studies of phylogenesis and ontogenesis are presented in favour of this definition. Consequently, prosody of infant vocal expressions, which are made by individuals who have not yet developed either language or musical skills, is investigated as a phenomenon in itself, with its own rules. Recognising theoretical and methodological deficiencies in the linguistic and the Piagetian approaches to the development of infant prosodic expressions, this thesis supports the view that the origins of language are to be sought in the expressive dialogues between the mother and her prelinguistic child that are generated by intuitive motives for communication. Furthermore, infant vocalisations are considered as part of a system of communication constituted by all expressive modalities. Thus, the aim is to investigate the role of infant prosodic expressions in conveying emotions and communicative functions in relation to the accompanying non vocal-behaviours. A crossectional Pilot Study involving 16 infants aged 26 to 56 weeks and their mothers was undertaken to help in the design of the Main Study. The Main Study became a case description of two first born infants and their mothers; a boy (Robin) and a girl (Julie) both aged 30 weeks at the beginning of the study. The infants were filmed in their home every fortnight for five months in a structured naturalistic setting which included the following conditions: mother-infant free-play with their own toys, mother-infant play without using objects, the infant playing alone, motherinfant play with objects provided by the researcher, a 'car task' for eliciting cooperative play, and the mother staying unresponsive. Each filming session lasted approximately thirty minutes. In order to get an insight into the infants' 'meaning potential' expressed in their vocalisations, the mothers were asked to visit the department sometime in the interval between two filming sessions and, while watching the most recent video, to report what they felt their infant was conveyingif anything- in each vocalisation. Three types of analysis were carried out: a) An Analysis of Prosody - An attempt was made to obtain an objective, and not linguistically based account of infant prosodic features. First measurements were obtained of the duration and the fundamental frequency curve of each vocalisation by means of a computer programme for sound analysis. The values of fundamental frequency were then logarithmically transformed into a semitone scale in order to obtain measurements more sensitive to the mother's perception. b) A Functional Micro-Analysis of Non-Vocal Behaviours from Videos - The non vocal behaviours of mother and infant related with each vocalisation were codified without sound to examine to what extent the mothers relied for their interpretations on non-vocal behaviours accompanying vocalisations. c) An Analysis of the Mothers' Interpretations - The infants' messages were defined as perceived by their mother. The corpus comprised 713 vocalisations (322 for the boy and 391 for the girl) selected from a corpus of 864, and 143 minutes of video recording (64 for the boy and 79 for the girl). Correlations between the above three assessments were specified through statistical analysis. The findings from both infants indicate that between seven and eleven months prosodic patterns are not related one to one with particular messages. Rather, prosody distinguishes between groups of messages conveying features of psychological motivation, such as 'emotional', 'interpersonal', 'referential', 'assertive' or 'receptive'. Individual messages belonging to the same message group according to the analysis of prosody, are distinguished on the basis of the accompanying nonvocal behaviours. Before nine months, 'interpersonal' vocalisations display more 'alerting' prosodic patterns than 'referential' vocalisations. After nine months prosodic patterns in Robin's vocalisations differentiate between 'assertive' and 'receptive' messages, the former being expressed by more 'alerting' prosodic patterns than the latter. This distinction reflects a better Self-Other awareness. On the other hand, Julie's vocalisations occurring in situations of 'Joint Interest' display different prosodic patterns from her vocalisations uttered in situations of 'Converging Interest'. These changes in the role infant prosody reflect developments in the infants' motivational organisation which will lead to a more efficient control of intersubjective orientation and shared attention to the environment. Moreover, it was demonstrated that new forms of prosodic expression occur in psychologically mature situations, while the psychologically novel situations are expressed by mature prosodic forms. The above results suggest that at the threshold to language, prosody does not primarily serve identifiable linguistic functions. Rather, in spite of individual differences in form of their vocalisations, both infants use prosody in combination with other modalities as part of an expressive system, that conveys information about their motives. In this way prosody facilitates intersubjective and later cooperative communication, on which language development is built. To what extent such prelinguistic prosodic patterns are similar in form to those of the target language is a crucial issue for further investigation.
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Berman, Sheryl H. "Taking the "Mother" out of "Motherese" : young infants' preference for mothers' use of infant-directed speech /." Thesis, This resource online, 1990. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11012008-063753/.
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Humphry, Ruth Anne. "Colic in infancy and the mother-infant relationship /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487260531955972.
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Huff, Marlene. "Mother behaviors, infant behaviors, heart rate, and rocking within the early mother-infant relationship." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1055864134.
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Feeley, Nancy. "Infant, mother and contextual factors related to mothers' interactions with their very-low-birthweight infants." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=37888.
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While there is evidence that the interactions that occur in the early years of life between very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants and their mothers affects later child development, little is known about the factors that are associated with responsive and sensitive mother-VLBW infant interaction. Belsky's (1984) model of the determinants of parenting proposes that multiple child, parent, and contextual factors influence parenting behaviour. This prospective study examined the combined influence of a set of infant (i.e., birthweight and perinatal illness severity), mother (i.e., state anxiety and parenting sense of competence), and contextual variables (i.e., maternal received and perceived helpfulness of support, and marital adjustment) on mother-infant interaction, and assessed which factors were associated with sensitive and responsive interaction.The participants were 72 mothers and their VLBW infants (<1500 grams). Infant, mother, and contextual variables were assessed at 3- and 9-months of age (corrected). At 9 months, mother-infant teaching interactions were observed in the home and later coded using the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS).
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between mother-infant interaction and the infant, mother and contextual variables. The prospective model explained 33% of the variance in the interactive behaviour of the dyad. Dyads whose interaction was more sensitive and responsive at 9 months included mothers who were better-educated, less anxious at 3 months, and reported higher perceived support at 3 months. The concurrent model explained 29% of the variance in the interactive behaviour of the dyad. Dyads whose interaction was more sensitive and responsive included mothers who were better-educated and reported higher perceived support at 9 months. The hypothesis that the mother variables would be more important than the contextual variables in explaining mother-infant interaction was not supported. The findings highlight the importance of examining multiple infant, parent, and contextual variables to explain mother-VLBW infant interaction.
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Weigle, Karen L. "Functional analysis an application to mother-infant interactions /." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 1999. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=1153.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999.Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 157 p. : ill. (some col.) Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-79).
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Badenoch, Marion Ardelle. "Postnatal depression, the mother-infant feeding relationship, and infant growth." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.320007.
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Service, V. "The contexts of mother-infant interaction." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.376434.
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Bertrand, Lynda Caroll Carleton University Dissertation Sociology and Anthropology. "Mother-infant bonding; theory and practice." Ottawa, 1996.
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Oshio, Sachiko. "Mother's mental representation of her infant and its effect on infant organization and mother's perception of self /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7211.
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Sables-Baus, Sharon Mary. "The impact of gastroesophageal reflux in the growing premature infant on the mother-infant relationship /." Connect to full text via ProQuest. Limited to UCD Anschutz Medical Campus, 2007.
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Thesis (Ph.D. in Nursing) -- University of Colorado Denver, 2007.Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-87). Free to UCD affiliates. Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations;
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Mirt, Jessica J. "Syllable number and durations of infant vocalizations during mother-infant interaction." Thesis, Wichita State University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10057/10970.
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Loftis, Allison E. "ENGAGING MOTHERS: SELF-EFFICACY AND MOTHER/INFANT INTERACTION AMONG MOTHERS EXPERIENCING MULTIPLE LIFE STRESSORS." UKnowledge, 2013. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/edsrc_etds/4.
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The purpose of this project was to interview mothers of newborns who participated in early intervention services focusing on the implementation of a tool developed at the Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) in North Carolina. The intent was to examine the experience of mothers and home visitors employing the tool, which was designed to enhance the mother/infant relationship. However, a stronger focus on the relationship between mother and home visitor emerged throughout the interviews. Among some participants the relationship among practitioner and parent appeared to create a safe space to share, practice strategies and grow. Although characteristics of FIPP practices associated with the tool remained consistent among home visitors, the way in which services were implemented were unique to each home visitor and parent. Mothers participating in the project were identified as coping with numerous life stressors associated with poverty at the time of the interviews.
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Meadows, Denis William, and D. Meadows@mailbox gu edu au. "Mothers' Sensitivity to Infants' Communicative Acts." Griffith University. School of Cognition, Language and Special Education, 2001. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20030226.164131.
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This series of studies investigated the sensitivity of mothers towards the behaviour of their preverbal infants. More specifically, the investigation examined the consistency with which mothers identified what they considered to be communicative acts by their infants aged 6, 9, and 12 months, and the contingency and appropriateness of their maternal responses. The ability of other female adults to identify the same infant acts as communicative as the mothers was also investigated. In Studies one and two, 35 infants and their mothers were videotaped in a laboratory setting. Three weeks after the videotaping session, the mothers were asked to view a five-minute section and code the stream of infant behaviour into periods when they believed that their infant was engaging in communicative behaviours ('on' events) and periods when they considered that the infants were not ('off' events). This process was repeated three months after the first coding. At each coding session the mothers coded the videotape twice. Each mother's coded records were compared, in pairs, within and across coding sessions and the observed levels of agreement were calculated. A randomization procedure using 1000 iterations of the whole 'on' and 'off' events was used to determine the meaningfulness of the observed level of agreement between pairs of codings by providing distributions of chance levels of agreement with which the observed levels could be compared. Levels of agreement that exceeded chance values (p equals or is less than .05) were taken as evidence of consistency of maternal response. Consistency in the identification of communicative acts by other female adults (OAs) was investigated using a sample of 12 of the videotapes. Each videotape was coded by three separate OAs. The significance of the observed levels of agreement between the mother's coding and those of the OAs was determined using the randomization procedure. The results indicated that at each infant age, mothers were able to identify consistently their infant's communicatively salient behaviours, even over inter-coding intervals of three months. Further, both OAs and mothers identified the same infant behaviours as communicative. The third study investigated the abilities of a different sample of mothers and infants to describe the topography and meaning of their infants' behaviours during the 'on' events. Mothers' descriptions of their infants' behaviour during the 'on' events were also used to describe changes in the criteria that they used to identify infant behaviours as communicatively salient. Results indicated that the complexity of the criteria that the mothers used changed across infant age. First, mothers of younger infants were more likely, than mothers of older infants, to describe a single infant behaviour as being communicatively salient. The latter were more likely to identify two or three co-occurring infant behaviours as salient. Second, when more than one infant behaviour was identified in an 'on' event, the mothers of the older infants were more likely than the mothers of younger infants to state that all of the behaviours that they identified were communicatively important. These findings were interpreted to mean that mothers of older infants required more complex constellations of behaviour during the 'on' events in order to identify those behaviours as communicative. Study 4 investigated the contingency and appropriateness of the mothers' responses to the segments of their infants' behaviour that they identified as being communicative. Across infant age, findings indicated that the mothers' verbal responses to their infants were contingent upon whether they considered that their infants were engaged in communicatively salient behaviours. During periods of infant behaviour that the mothers identified as being communicative, mothers talked significantly more to their infants than they did when their infant's behaviour was considered to be non-communicative. Further, mothers' verbal responses were interpreted as being appropriate in two ways. First, during the 'on' events, changes occurred over infant age in the balance between the use of utterances designed to attract and maintain the attention of the infant (Attentional Directives) and those designed to provide comment on infant behaviour (Feedback). This shift is in keeping with widely reported changes in infant behaviour as children grow older (i.e., older infants' play a greater role in initiating and maintaining episodes of interaction). Second, during periods when the mothers considered that their infants were not communicating ('off' events) they rarely used 'Feedback' verbal responses. During 'off' events, mothers maintained high levels of 'Attentional Directive' talk, irrespective of infant age. Taken collectively, these studies provide evidence that supports the view that mothers are sensitive to what they consider to be communicative behaviours by their infants in terms of the consistency, contingency and appropriateness of their behaviour. The unique features of this investigation, the generality of the findings and the implications for future research are discussed in the final chapter.
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Gschwendt, Miriam A. "Early manifestations of aggression in infants of high risk mother-infant dyads." Phd thesis, [S.l. : s.n.], 2002. http://pub.ub.uni-potsdam.de/2002/0021/gschwend.pdf.
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Connors, Elizabeth. "Mother-infant interaction and the development of mastery motivation in infancy." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 1995. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/20037/.
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Infant motivation towards competence or mastery is said to be enhanced by contingent environmental feedback (White, 1959). This theory has been supported by research into the contingent responsiveness of the infant caretaking environment (e.g. Vondra & Belsky, 1989). Other caregiving variables have also been found to contribute such as the provision of sensory stimulation, focusing infant attention and low restrictiveness (Belsky, Goode & Most, 1980, Jennings, Harmon, Morgan, Gaiter & Yarrow, 1979; Yan-ow, Morgan, Jennings, Harmon & Gaiter, 1982). However, findings have been inconsistent. The first aim of the present study was to clari& previous research findings and, more specifically, to determine the importance of contingent experience in the first half year of life to the development of mastery motivation as this period has hitherto been neglected. Secondly, as the experience of social contingencies early in infancy has also been found to be associated with security of infant-caregiver attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters & Wall, 1978), it was hypothesised that there would be a relationship between infant attachment and mastery motivation. Finally, on the basis of findings that more difficult infants may experience less responsive maternal caregiving (van den Boom, 1989), it was proposed that infant difficultness would also be related to mastery motivation. 55 Mother-infant pairs were observed in everyday home interaction at 3 '/2, 8 and 14 months. Maternal contingent responsiveness, sensitivity, warmth, stimulation, infant attention focusing, restrictions and intrusive/insensitive behaviour were studied in relation to infant social and inanimate interaction. Mothers completed the ICQ (Bates, Freeland & Lounsbury, 1979) as a measure of infant diThcultness at each of the three stages. At 8 and 14 months infant mastery motivation was examined using a standard free-play procedure (Vondra & Belsky, 1991). Finally, infant attachment was measured at 14 months using the Attachment Behaviour Q-sort (Waters, 1987). Findings revealed that maternal contingent responsiveness to infant social initiations and distress, stimulation and focusing infant attention, measured at various stages of the study were positively correlated with aspects of infant mastery motivation measured at 8 and 14 months. Restrictions and intrusive/insensitive behaviour were found to be negatively correlated with infant mastery motivation. Stepwise regression indicated that the most significant predictors of 8 month mastery motivation were maternal warmth measured at 3 '/2 months and stimulation and intrusive/insensitive behaviour measured at 8 months. Responsiveness to infant distress and maternal intrusive/insensitive behaviour, both measured at 3 1/2 months, were found to be significant predictors of 14 month mastery motivation, thus, providing evidence of the importance of contingent responding during the early infancy period. However, intrusive/insensitive behaviour and contingent responsiveness to infant social initiations measured at 14 months were also significant predictors of 14 month mastery motivation. A moderate, but significant relationship was found between infant Attachment Q-sort scores and one measure of 14 month mastery motivation which indicated that more securely attached infants explored at a higher level of sophistication and showed greater pleasure in free-play. Stepwise regression indicated that the strongest predictors of 14 month infant attachment security were maternal warmth measured at 3 1/2 and 14 months and maternal sensitivity measured at 8 months. Contingent responsiveness at 3 1/2 months was not found to be of special significance to the development of secure attachment. Finally, infants rated as more difficult by their mothers performed more poorly along several measures of both 8 and 14 month mastery motivation than infants rated as less difficult. Infants who were perceived as more difficult had experienced higher levels of physical stimulation and more intrusive/insensitive caregiving during the first year. These findings show that infant mastery motivation may be influenced from an early age by both the behaviour of caregivers and by infant dispositional characteristics. Thus, there are important implications for the development of infants who, due to various disabilities, have difficulty in eliciting contingent responses from their caregivers or who, for whatever reason, may be perceived as difficult. The study focused on motivation for mastery of the inanimate environment and it is acknowledged that some infants may instead be predisposed or channelled towards mastery in the social environment. Further research is required to identi& individual differences in mastery orientation and to determine the longer term motivational consequences of early infant experiences.
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Barbosa, Vanessa M. "Effective reliability of mother/child interaction assessment in 9 month old children." Thesis, Boston University, 1994. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/38000.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityPLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you.
Judgment methodology was employed to provide a qualitative description of mother/child interaction during infant play. Videoclips of 40 9-month-old infants in a free play situation with their mothers were rated by a panel of 10 judges using a series of 9 point Likert scales. Thirteen qualitative items, grouped into the five different areas of communication, coordination, engagement, affect, and overall quality of interaction, were rated from low or absent (0) to consistently high (8). Each mother/child dyad was assessed on two different segments. The reliability of the scales for assessing the mother/child interaction (mean ratings of 10 judges) ranged from .65 (mismatch) to .81 (mutual responsiveness) with an overall mean effective reliability of .77. There was a high intercorrelation among individual variables and overall quality of the interaction suggesting that no one of the rated qualities was more predictive of the overall mother/child interaction. Differences found in the rated quality of mother/child interaction between the two segments raise questions regarding the validity of conclusions about the overall quality of interaction based on a single short segment. Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric features of the scales and in terms of the mother/child interactional patterns. Suggestions for revising the methodology and the assessment tool are made to improve reliability and validity. More studies are necessary to validate the usefulness of the judgment methodology as an alternative approach to studying the quality of mother/child interaction.
2031-01-01
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Fung, Chi-lai Esther. "Mother-infant bonding : is it a cultural construct? : comparative beliefs and practices among Chinese, Japanese and American societies /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B18736609.
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Oswalt, Krista Lee. "Effects of infant massage on HIV-infected mothers and their infants." Birmingham, Ala. : University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. https://www.mhsl.uab.edu/dt/2009p/oswalt.pdf.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009.Additional advisors: Daniel Marullo, Sylvie Mrug, Marsha Sturdevant, Lynda Wilson. Description based on contents viewed June 5, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-52).
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Rowe, Jennifer. "Organising bodies : a study of feeding and sleep in infancy /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2000. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/iad/absthe15803.pdf.
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Clarke, Christy. "The Quality of Attachment in Premature Infants: An Analysis of Mother-Infant Relationships." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1550.
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The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative case study using secondary data on four mothers with premature infants in a home visitation intervention group. Three data points
were collected on each mother and infant: the health of the infant, the quality of attachment as seen in play interactions, and maternal life circumstances such as depression, social support and use of community resources. The data was looked at prenatally up until the infants were 15 months old. The results indicated that all four infants were relatively healthy across the first year of their lives. Three out of the four mothers had a secure attachment with their premature infants at 12 months of age and one mother was at risk for an insecure attachment. All four mothers demonstrated some positive play interactions; however, one mother in particular demonstrated low involvement. Of the four mothers, one was highly depressed, and the other three mothers were minimally to moderately depressed. The four mothers were also in a marital or partner relationship, and all reported satisfaction in their support systems as well as very similar uses of community resources. The results of this study can be used to assist Home Visitors in understanding the need to help mothers improve their interactions with their premature infants and to encourage the Home Visitors to refer the mothers who show any signs of depression.B.S.
Bachelors
Education and Human Performance
Teaching, Learning and Leadership
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Swanson, Heather. "Attention as a moderator of the effects of negative emotionality on mother-child interactions during infancy." Online access for everyone, 2008. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Spring2008/h_swanson_042208.pdf.
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Gutbrod, Tina. "Emotion regulation in very preterm infants : the influence of infant, maternal and medical factors." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.247327.
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Byrn, Michelle D. "A comparative case study of music interactions between mothers and infants." Muncie, Ind. : Ball State University, 2009. http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/684.
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Yip, Sau-kuen, and 葉秀娟. "Mother-infant intervention to promote maternal mental health after preterm birth." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2012. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B48339477.
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Compared to term infants, it is known that preterm infants have relatively poor regulation and are less able to handle stimulation, which only allows limited time of alertness favorable for productive social interaction. Parents that are less knowledgeable in this would often feel distressed when they try to interact with their babies. Also, non-optimal parent-infant interaction may further stress the preterm infants. So, intervention that seeks to handle this problem is needed. Mother-infant intervention is a strategy that teaches mothers or parents to respond appropriately to infants’ cues and when to stop handling. This intervention helps to achieve optimal parent-infant interaction. Evidence in the current literature has suggested that early mother-infant intervention in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is effective in promoting maternal mental health after preterm delivery. Therefore, the proposed innovation attempts to use mother-infant intervention to reduce depressive symptoms and parenting stress of these mothers.
The implementation potential of the mother-infant intervention was explored. It was found that the intervention is highly transferable and feasible to be applied in the hospital settings of Hong Kong with Chinese women. The benefits of implementing the proposed innovation also far outweigh the cost. An evidence-based practice guideline was then developed. Thorough communication plan, implementation plan and pilot study plan will be launched. The whole program will last for 24 months including stages from obtaining approval, planning, carrying out pilot study, launching the actual implementation, to conducting data collection and program evaluation.published_or_final_version
Nursing Studies
Master
Master of Nursing
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Sundberg, Ulla. "Mother tongue - Phonetic Aspects of Infant-Directed Speech." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för lingvistik, 1998. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-40216.
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Phonetic aspects of mother-infant interaction are discussed in light of a functionalist Mother-infant phonetic interaction (MIPhI) model. Adults addressing infants typically use a speech style (infant-directed speech, IDS) characterized by, for instance, extensive suprasegmental (prosodic) modulations. This type of speech seems to interest young infants whose active experience with the spoken language appears to focus their speech perception on the phonological properties of the ambient language during the first year of life. This thesis consists of four articles discussing phonetic modifications at the suprasegmental, segmental and phonological levels, based on data from six Swedish mothersí IDS to their 3-month-olds. The first study concerns the tonal word accent 2 in disyllabic words, and shows how the lexical, bimodal, tonal characteristics of this accent are enhanced in IDS as compared to adult-directed speech (ADS). The second is a cross-linguistic investigation of vowel formant frequencies in Swedish, Am. English and Russian IDS. It shows that vowels like /i/, /u/, and /a/ are more clearly separated in IDS than in ADS, in all three languages. The third study addresses the voiced /voiceless contrast in stop consonants as measured by voice onset time (VOT) and shows that stop consonants seem to be poorly separated in early IDS samples. The fourth study investigates the quantity distinction in V:C and VC: sequences and indicates that this phonological contrast is well maintained in the IDS. Adult data are discussed within the MIPhI model, assuming that suprasegmental and segmental specifications in IDS follow different phonetic specification paths adapted to the infantsí capacities as these develop over the first 18 months of life. The adultsí phonetic adaptations appear to reflect a selective strategy of presenting linguistic structure in a ìgift-wrappingî that is attractive and functional for the infant.För att köpa boken skicka en beställning till exp@ling.su.se/ To order the book send an e-mail to exp@ling.su.se
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Ouma, Samuel. "Childbirth experiences and mother-infant relationships in Uganda." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2017. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/87262/.
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A high proportion of women in sub-Saharan Africa survive severe negative childbirth experiences each year, yet little is known about the psychological impact of maternal experiences on the mother and her baby in those countries. There is evidence from high income countries that the effects of posttraumatic stress symptoms following childbirth on mothers and their families can be long lasting. The aim of this exploratory mixed methods study was to examine the possible association between childbirth experiences and mother-infant interactions in a purposive sample of high risk mothers who delivered at an urban tertiary hospital in Uganda. The sample comprised of 49 mothers aged between 18-38 years and their 4-5-monthold babies. Each mother-infant dyad was observed in a 10-minute video recorded social interaction at home. All mothers completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographic factors, childbirth experiences, posttraumatic stress symptoms arising from labour and delivery, postpartum depression and maternal attachment style. Individual narrative interviews with 41 mothers were conducted exploring their experiences of pregnancy, labour, delivery and time spent at the hospital post-delivery. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, ANOVA, and hierarchical multiple regressions and the narratives using structural narrative analysis. The findings were integrated using the weave strategy. Quantitative findings showed that fear of death, emergency caesarean section and prolonged labour were the most common problems during labour and delivery. Childbirth experiences were negatively associated with mother-infant interactions. Posttraumatic stress symptoms and postnatal depression were not associated with mother-infant interactions. The women’s experiences at the hospital partially predicted mother-infant interactions. Women’s narratives showed that experiences of childbirth were influenced by the mothers’ level of planning for pregnancy, personal circumstances, and cultural and religious beliefs about childbirth. The mothers’ experiences of childbirth demonstrated elements of restitution, chaos and quest narratives, mirroring aspects of illness narratives seen in populations living with chronic health conditions. These findings show that negative childbirth experiences present risks to both women’s postnatal mental health and their interactions with their infants. Two urgently required interventions for this population of women and their babies should involve 1) hospital organisational changes and staff training on quality intrapartum care. 2) Development and provision of trauma and attachment-based interventions for mothers and their infants.
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O'Higgins, Madeleine. "Improving Mother-Infant Outcomes after Maternal Postnatal Depression." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2007. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019843/.
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Vaughan, Karolyn, of Western Sydney Nepean University, and School of Health and Nursing. "Mother, baby residential admission : the mother's experience." THESIS_XXX_SHN_Vaughan_K.xml, 2000. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/340.
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Becoming a mother is a challenging time and for some women the lifestyle adjustment can be very stressful. In combination with the changes in family structure mothers are increasingly seeking professional support and assistance in the care of their infants and children. Child and family health services in NSW offer varying levels of professional support and education, including 24-hour residential care. The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the mothers' perceptions and experiences of residential admission to a Child and Family Health Unit - Karitane. This study is descriptive in nature. Sixteen English speaking mothers admitted to Karitane in 1998 took part in the study. Focus groups were the main source of data for the study. The focus groups were undirected, conversations recorded and written notes taken. Additional data were collected by a questionnaire to determine the demographic characteristics of the mothers. The mothers' indicators of depression were scored using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Each mother completed the EPDS during the admission period and at the time of the focus and respective comparison was made. Data analysis revealed that the mothers' EDPS scores had decreased significantly at the time of the focus group meeting. The key concepts that emerged in the mothers' descriptions of their experiences were the importance of the development of the professional relationship, equity and access to parenting services, particularly for the partner, and the need for services to promote and provide realistic parenting education with an early intervention focus. The implications of the findings lend support to health care professionals in lobbying government for the necessary funds, in providing increased access to quality parenting services.Master of Nursing (Hons)
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Chan, Yuk-ying Eugenie. "The lived experience of Hong Kong Chinese mothers with premature infants hospitalized in special care units /." View the Table of Contents & Abstract, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31937895.
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Stone, Sarah Ann Ahlander. "The Infant Orienting Response as it Relates to Mother-Infant Co-regulation and Attachment." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2894.
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This study examined the relationship between 6-month old infants' orienting response to maternal arm-restraint (as measured by bradycardia), the quality of mother-infant communication at 6 and 9 months (as measured by the Relational Coding System) and attachment at 12 months (as measured by the Strange Situation Procedure). As positive mother-infant communication increases, the chances the infant will experience bradycardia increases. As negative mother-infant communication increases, the chances that the infant will experience bradycardia decreases. For mothers and infants who have more positive communication patterns, orienting response to the maternal arm-restraint suggests that maternal disruption of infant activity was a novel experience for them. This study suggests that mother infant interactions create an expected pattern of behavior for infants. When these expectations are violated, the infant has a physiological reaction that suggests increased attention to the disrupted interaction. Bradycardia at 6 months was not related to attachment at 12 months; however, considering both the physiology and environment of the infant, dyadic positive and negative interactions affect the quality of the mother-infant relationship several months later.
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Chung, Yee-har Ida. "An exploratory study of marital adjustment of mothers with a first born child /." [Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong], 1992. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B13418075.
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Jia, Rongfang. "Dynamic Mother-Infant and Father-Infant Interaction: Contribution of Parents’ and Infants’ Facial Affect and Prediction from Depression, Empathy and Temperament." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397809199.
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Lindsay, Sally. "The impact of employment on mother and infant health." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape4/PQDD_0017/MQ58055.pdf.
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Higley, Elizabeth. "Nighttime interactions and mother-infant attachment at one year." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file, 57 p, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1397907431&sid=15&Fmt=2&clientId=8331&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Kalinauskienė, Lina. "The possibilities of intervention of mother-infant attachment relationship." Doctoral thesis, Lithuanian Academic Libraries Network (LABT), 2010. http://vddb.laba.lt/obj/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2010~D_20101116_163958-54648.
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The randomized control trial examined the effects of a short-term, interaction focused and attachment-based video-feedback intervention (VIPP, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008) on mothers’ sensitive responsiveness and infant-mother attachment security in a sample (N = 54) of low sensitive, non-clinical, middle class Lithuanian mothers. Maternal sensitivity was assessed in a free play session with the Ainsworth sensitivity scale, and attachment security was observed using the Attachment Q sort for home observations. The long-term intervention effect on children behavior problems was assessed with CBCL. We found that the intervention mothers indeed significantly improved their sensitive responsiveness through participation in the intervention. VIPP enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness even when maternal age, educational level, daily hassles, efficacy, infant gender, and infant negative and positive affect were controlled for. However, attachment security in the intervention group infants was not enhanced after the intervention, compared to the control infants, and the infants did not seem to differential susceptible to the increase in maternal sensitivity. Experimental, control groups children and sensitive mothers’ children experienced the same level of behavior problems at two years. Factors associated with maternal sensitivity and children behavior problems were analyzed.Disertacijoje tirtas vaizdo analizės metodu pagrįstos, trumpalaikės, nukreiptos į motinos ir kūdikio sąveiką, prieraišumo santykius koreguojančios intervencijos (VIPP, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008) poveikis motinų jautrumui kūdikio signalams bei kūdikių prieraišumo saugumui. Tiriamieji buvo (N = 54) nepakankamai jautrios kūdikio signalams, klinikinių sutrikimų neturinčios, viduriniosios klasės motinos ir kūdikiai. Motinos jautrumas kūdikio signalams buvo vertinamas klasikine Ainsworth skale pagal nufilmuotą motinos ir kūdikio laisvą žaidimą, o kūdikių prieraišumo saugumas vertintas Waters‘o „Prieraišumo Q-rūšiavimo metodika“ (stebint kūdikį ir motiną namuose). Ilgalaikį dalyvavimo korekcijos programoje poveikį vaikų elgesio sunkumams vertinome CBCL metodika. Nustatyta, kad dalyvavimas korekcijos programoje reikšmingai padidino motinų jautrumą kūdikių signalams, net kai buvo kontroliuojamas motinos amžius, išsilavinimas, kasdienis stresas, saviveiksmingumas, kūdikių lytis ir temperamentas. Kūdikių prieraišumo saugumas eksperimentinėje grupėje nepadidėjo, kai eksperimentinės grupės tiriamieji baigė dalyvauti programoje, lyginant su kontroline grupe. Aukštesniu ir žemesniu neigiamu emocionalumu pasižymintys kūdikiai gavo tiek pat naudos iš dalyvavimo programoje. Eksperimentinės, kontrolinės grupių ir pakankamai jautrių motinų vaikai patyrė panašiai tiek pat elgesio sunkumų dviejų metų amžiuje. Disertacijoje analizuojami veiksniai, susiję su motinų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]
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Ammerman, Sarah. "The Impact of Hearing Loss on Mother-Infant Bonding." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195604.
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Hearing loss is a low-incidence disability, affecting 1 to 6 per 1,000 live births. Until recently, hearing loss was not diagnosed until 2 years of age or later. In the late 1990s, a push began for Universal Newborn Hearing Screening: the ultimate goal was that every newborn's hearing would be tested before leaving the hospital.Prior to widespread implementation of UNHS, some researchers found that hearing parents of deaf children had higher stress and atypical parent-infant interactions. More recent research, focused on parents of infants diagnosed through UNHS, is inconsistent. Some researchers have found that parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) children have significantly more stress than parents of hearing infants; however, some researchers have not found these differences.Because increased stress is linked to impaired parent-infant bonding, researchers have made conclusions about bonding based on assessments of stress. The purpose of the current study was to compare the bonding of hearing mothers to d/hh infants to hearing mothers of hearing infants. A second aspect was to assess the needs of mothers of d/hh infants and to evaluate, from mothers' perspectives, how early-intervention services could be improved.Results from the current study show that mothers of d/hh infants were not bonding abnormally. In addition, the bonding of hearing mothers to d/hh infants is not significantly different from the bonding of hearing mothers to hearing infants. On the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ), mothers of hearing infants were significantly more likely to feel as if their babies cried too much. Interview results show that all mothers were worried about their children's future; however, mothers of d/hh babies had more specific worries, including those related to communication development. In addition, mothers discussed their experiences with early intervention and their valued qualities in an early-intervention provider.
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Morelen, Diana, Rena Menke, Katherine Rosenblum, Marjorie Beeghly, and Maria Muzik. "Bidirectional Mother-Infant Affective Displays across Contexts of Risk." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/744.
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Fung, Chi-lai Esther, and 馮志麗. "Mother-infant bonding: is it a cultural construct? : comparative beliefs and practices among Chinese, Japaneseand American societies." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31951260.
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Slonims, Victoria. "A comparative investigation of mother-Infant interaction with babies with Down Syndrome and normal infants." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.271137.
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Silverstein, Audrey Asch. "What is the relationship between early infant-mother contact, length of bonding and infant thermoregulation? /." Staten Island, N.Y. : [s.n.], 1986. http://library.wagner.edu/theses/nursing/1986/thesis_nur_1986_silve_what.pdf.
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Yetman, Marion. "Becoming a mother in the NICU : a grounded theory study /." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0031/MQ47492.pdf.
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Vaughan, Karolyn. "Mother, baby residential admission : the mother's experience." Thesis, View thesis, 2000. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/340.
Full textAbstract:
Becoming a mother is a challenging time and for some women the lifestyle adjustment can be very stressful. In combination with the changes in family structure mothers are increasingly seeking professional support and assistance in the care of their infants and children. Child and family health services in NSW offer varying levels of professional support and education, including 24-hour residential care. The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the mothers' perceptions and experiences of residential admission to a Child and Family Health Unit - Karitane. This study is descriptive in nature. Sixteen English speaking mothers admitted to Karitane in 1998 took part in the study. Focus groups were the main source of data for the study. The focus groups were undirected, conversations recorded and written notes taken. Additional data were collected by a questionnaire to determine the demographic characteristics of the mothers. The mothers' indicators of depression were scored using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Each mother completed the EPDS during the admission period and at the time of the focus and respective comparison was made. Data analysis revealed that the mothers' EDPS scores had decreased significantly at the time of the focus group meeting. The key concepts that emerged in the mothers' descriptions of their experiences were the importance of the development of the professional relationship, equity and access to parenting services, particularly for the partner, and the need for services to promote and provide realistic parenting education with an early intervention focus. The implications of the findings lend support to health care professionals in lobbying government for the necessary funds, in providing increased access to quality parenting services.
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Wiedman, Cheryl. "Correlates of 9-month-old infants' night awakening." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2004. https://etd.wvu.edu/etd/controller.jsp?moduleName=documentdata&jsp%5FetdId=3372.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004.Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 113 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-73).
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Gering, Jeanne. "Infant observation : the first year of life." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009451.
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This research project is about infant-observation, that is looking at, observing, and studying parent-infant interactions and relationships within the first year of life. The principle intention of the study is to illustrate and shed light upon human infant development and how the newborn becomes a fully functioning member within the family. The study provides a context in which to consider parent-infant interaction beginning in utero, expanding to the birthing process, and continuing through the infant's first year. It focuses on specific themes of parent-infant interaction. The following situations are explored: the role of the mother; the mother as a container; the infant's experience of containment; the internalisation of experience; the symbolic meaning of food; dealing with distress and the development of concrete communication; the growth of a sense of ego; and, the infant's internal world. The study concludes by addressing various implications for further psychotherapy and compares the therapist-client relationship to the mother-infant relationship. The research outlines one particular psychoanalytic theoretical orientation of mental and emotional development. It is a model derived predominantly from The Developmental School Theorists and Object Relations Theorists, namely, Bowlby, Klein, Mahler and Winnicott. This model looks at the infant's earliest relationships and the processes these set up within the infant's developing mind. Infant observation, asa research method proposed by Bick and Sidoli, links method and theory, and serves as the methodological approach utilised in the present study. A video, based on the parent-infant interaction of three families, provides observational data and may be viewed in conjunction with this research.KMBT_363
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