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Biomedical subjects

R T Mercer

Publications and source records attributed to R T Mercer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Social support of teenage mothers.

The purpose of this paper is to report the social support perceived as available by teenage mothers during their first year of motherhood and the correlation of perceived social support with maternal role attainment variables. Social support was one of 11 independent variables studied for their impact on the maternal role for three age groups of first-time mothers: 15-19, 20-29, and 30-42 years. Social support described was categorized into four types--informational, emotional, physical, and appraisal--and by the network size. Sixty-six teenagers agreed to participate in the study, and they were interviewed in the hospital during early postpartum and in their homes or a setting of their choice at 1,4,8, and 12 months after birth. This highly mobile population was difficult to follow, and there was a subject loss over the year of 39.4% (N = 26). During early postpartum, the only type of support to correlate with maternal attachment (one of the two maternal role attainment variables measured at that time) was informational support, and teenagers had received significantly less than older women. There were no significant correlations of any of the support variables with the teenagers' perceptions of their neonate, the second measure of maternal role attainment. Teenagers received less emotional support from mates and from parents than older women. At 1 month postpartum, teenagers received less emotional support than older mothers, but reported more informational support. Support variables failed to correlate with maternal role attainment measures of perceptions of the neonate, ways of handling irritating child behaviors, or infants' growth and development. Physical and emotional support correlated positively with feelings of love for the infant, and informational and emotional support correlated positively with gratification in the mothering role. Physical support correlated positively with maternal competency behaviors. At 4 months after birth, teenagers continued to receive less emotional support than older mothers, but there were no differences in other types of support received. Physical support correlated positively with maternal gratification in the role, infants' growth and development, and maternal competency behaviors. Other types of support and the size of the network did not correlate with any of the maternal role attainment variables. Teenagers continued to receive less emotional support than older mothers at 8 months after birth, although there were no differences in other types of support received. The support variables failed to correlate significantly with any of the five maternal role attainment variables at this time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1983

Pregnancy outcome for adolescents receiving prenatal care by nurse practitioners in extended roles.

The outcome of teenage pregnancy when managed in a specialized antenatal program resembles the patterns associated with young adults rather than the outcomes of teenagers in a general clinic. Based on a recent University of California study, this seems to result from three major factors: early prenatal care, nursing management in primary care, and special and consistent emphasis on adequate nutrition. Outcomes were significantly enhanced regarding infant weight and gestational age scoring, 1-and 5-minute Apgar scores, fewer intensive care admissions, and shorter hospital stays when compared to the general clinic experience.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

The cesarean birth experience: implications for nursing.

A comparative field study was done to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to determine if women perceived their childbirth experience less positively when they had cesarean deliveries and in what ways. The hypothesis, primiparas having an emergency cesarean birth will have a less positive perception of their birth experience than those who deliver vaginally, was supported at the .01 level of significance (t test). Perceptions of 20 primiparas having an emergency cesarean birth and 30 primiparas having a vaginal birth were measured by a 29 item questionnaire within 48 hours postpartally. More cesarean delivered women had not named their infants; this difference was significant at the 0.005 level. Within the cesarean group, those who had general anesthesia had less positive perceptions of their experience than those who had regional anesthesia (0.05 level of significance). The presence of a support person with them during surgery did not significantly affect perceptions, but further research is recommended. The qualitative analysis of the data revealed a number of concepts. There was an underlying theme that a cesarean delivery signified weakness in relation to her potential mothering ability. Cesarean delivered mothers suffered a loss in self-esteem, possibly due to unfulfilled expectations for a vaginal delivery and the physical trauma and corresponding loss of control due to the surgery. These women experienced a sense of failure due to the procedure and expressed doubts that the infant was their own newborn. As a group they exhibited little physical or emotional energy for mothering.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Factors impacting on the maternal role the first year of motherhood.

This study is exploring the nature of the relationships between key maternal and infant variables and maternal role attainment in a sample of 255 women who are experiencing motherhood for the first time. Data are being collected by instruments and semistructured interviews at 5 periods: early postpartum and at 1, 4, 8, and 12 months. Maternal variables under study include age, perception of the birth experience, early maternal-infant separation, social stress, support systems, personality traits, medical complications, child rearing attitudes, and self-concept; infant variables include temperament and illness. The objectives are to determine the form and strength of the relationships between the maternal and infant variables and maternal role attainment as measured at the 5 intervals for 3 groups of first-time mothers (age 13-19), 20-29, 30-39) and their significance in predicting the outcome of maternal role attainment upon a randomly selected subsample of the sample using multiple regression and cross validation techniques. Other factors that influence maternal role attainment will be identified and analyzed as they emerge from interviews. The currently high refusal rate to participate (48%) suggests that the final sample will not be representative. Refusals may reflect unique stressors or personality characteristics which also correlate with increased difficulties with the maternal role. A common concern and difficulty for mothers at 1 month are the unexpected demands of motherhood, although 1 cultural group has not viewed these as bothersome. Mothers' expectations for themselves and their infants range from realistic to unrealistic.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Teenage motherhood: the first year. Part i: the teenage mother's views and responses part ii: how the infants fared.

Twelve teenagers, age 14--19 , were interviewed at 12 periods during the first year of motherhood to study the impact of motherhood on them and their infants. Three of the young women did not achieve the maternal role. Among the others, those who had no untoward difficulties with the mothering role viewed themselves as having grown through the experience of motherhood, had a supportive mate, had a mother who recognized them as capable of mothering, noted increasingly more rewards in mothering, and had family members who helped them with infant care. Four of the infants had to remain in the hospital following their mothers' discharge from the hospital. Two infants suffered failure-to-thrive syndrome at four months and one a fractured skull (etiology unknown)) at four weeks. Thirty-four other illnesses or problems occurred after the initial discharge. Four periods appeared critical for the infants during the year: the first days following birth; one month; between the third and fourth month; and between the sixth and ninth months.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anesthesia, analgesia for vaginal childbirth. Differences in maternal perceptions.

An exploratory study of 77 primiparous women during the first 48 hours postpartum tested for differences between those who had received epidural anesthesia, those who had received analgesia during labor with local or pudendal block for delivery, and those who had received no analgesia and either no anesthesia or local or pudendal block for delivery. No group differences were found in self-esteem, feelings about the childbirth experience at the time of delivery, or maternal perception of her infant as compared to her perception of an average infant. Those receiving epidural anesthesia had less positive feelings about the childbirth experience at the time of the interview, but they described their views of their infants at birth more positively and with more identifying remarks than either of the other two groups. No differences were found in self-esteem, feelings about the childbirth experience at time of delivery or at the time of interview, or maternal perception of the newborn compared to that of an average infant by those who attended childbirth classes and those who did not.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Predictors of family functioning eight months following birth.

A theoretical causal model was tested to determine the effects of stress on family functioning for four groups of parents at 8 months postpartum. High-risk women who had been hospitalized during pregnancy, their partners, low-risk women, and their partners were tested to find how predictors might differ by gender and risk-status. The proposed theoretical model had low predictive power among the four groups (20% to 24%); however, the exploratory, empirical models had moderate to strong explanatory power (33% to 58%). Depression had direct effects on family functioning among all four groups in the theoretical model, but the respecified models had direct effects only among the two groups of women. Antepartal stress in the form of negative life events stress had indirect effects on women's family functioning, as was hypothesized, but not for men. High-risk men's partners' pregnancy risk had direct effects on family functioning at 8 months, indicating long-term effects on the family of a high-risk pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of primiparas' perceptions of vaginal and cesarean births.

Twenty primiparous mothers who had cesarean births were compared with 30 primiparous mothers who had vaginal deliveries to determine differences in their perceptions of the birth experience. The effect of general versus regional anesthesia on the satisfaction level of the cesarean mothers was also investigated. All subjects were between 20 and 32 years of age, were interviewed within 48 hours postpartum, and completed a 29-item questionnaire that measures maternal perceptions about the labor and delivery experience. Satisfaction with the birth experience was significantly lower among cesarean mothers and among those who had general anesthesia. The cesarean group displayed greater hesitancy in naming their infants and tended to view their deliveries as abnormal and having social stigma. The presence of a support person in the operating room for a cesarean birth seemed to lessen anxiety among these mothers. These findings suggest that a cesarean birth has a negative impact on the mother's perceptions of her labor and delivery experience. There is a need for further study of factors that can enhance this experience for families.

Adult↗