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Biomedical subjects

S Coffman

Publications and source records attributed to S Coffman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Infant-mother attachment: relationships to maternal responsiveness and infant temperament.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between maternal responsiveness, infant temperament, and infant-mother attachment as measured in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Discriminant analysis revealed that infant temperament was more strongly related to attachment than maternal responsiveness. Infants rated as Anxious-Avoidant in attachment were perceived by their mothers as significantly easier in temperament. Possible explanations for findings and implications for nurses working with infants and parents are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The experience of struggle, freedom, and growth.

The philosophy contains both constraints and freedoms. Loss of the minority view was expressed as a struggle. Molding to fit the dominant view led to a sense of connectedness. Individuals living within the faculty circle sought both to maintain their own views and to recognize and support the needs of the group. From this struggle, feelings of freedom and growth emerged, as well as respect and support for others. Nevertheless, at the point in time captured by this study, respect for individuals was easier to achieve than respect for the diversity of ideas. In truth, these cannot be separated, and so the struggle to understand and live the philosophy is an ongoing process.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1989

The emergency department diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginitis.

Trichomonas vaginalis is a common cause of vaginitis in emergency department patient populations. While the diagnosis of this condition is usually on the basis of wet-mount microscope slide preparations, other diagnostic technology exists. We studied the accuracy of the traditional wet-mount technique as compared with detection using direct immunofluorescence and culture techniques in ED patients with the presenting complaint of vaginal discharge. Of 157 patients evaluated, the wet-mount technique detected 27 cases of Trichomonas, compared with 35 cases diagnosed by direct immunofluorescence and 52 cases detected by culture. This represents a false-negative rate for the wet-mount technique of 51%; the false-negative rates for direct immunofluorescence and culture technique were 36% and 5%, respectively. Our study suggests that the wet-mount technique is relatively insensitive in the detection of Trichomonas vaginitis.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Respite care for families of children with disabilities.

The number of children with chronic health problems and resultant disabilities is increasing. Most of the care received by these children is provided by family members, often at severe economic and psychologic cost. One service that has appeared in the past two decades to assist family caregivers is respite services. This article describes the needs for respite identified by family members, the types of respite services available, the benefits of respite care to families, and the essential roles nurses can assume in assuring this essential service is available to families.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nursing assessment and management of pain in critically ill children.

OBJECTIVES: To describe how nurses assess and manage pain in critically ill children. DESIGN: Descriptive, comparative research design, with use of the Indicators of Pain in Critically Ill Children assessment tool. SETTING: Twelve-bed pediatric intensive care unit in a metropolitan general hospital with a level II pediatric trauma center. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-four pediatric intensive care unit nurses who conducted 112 assessments of 25 critically ill children. RESULTS: Pain indicators selected most frequently by nurses included cardiovascular and respiratory changes (increased heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure), followed by behavioral indicators (irritable/fussy, verbalizing pain, crying), and neuromuscular responses (tenseness/rigidity, squirming, drawing up legs). The average number of pain indicators selected during each medication event was 5.3. More indicators were selected for trauma, surgery, and younger patients; fewer indicators were selected for patients receiving ventilation treatment. CONCLUSION: Pain assessment of critically ill children includes unique indicators, as compared to less sick children, and must take into account the child's decreased ability to communicate pain.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social support and relationship change after childbirth: an expectancy model.

Much has been written about social support, but little is known about the processes that promote continuity or discontinuity in supportive relationships. A proposed model of relationship processes (Levitt, 1991) specifies that changes in the quality of close relationships are likely to occur when expectations for social support are tested and disconfirmed. Relationships are particularly vulnerable to change after major life events, such as childbirth, when increased support needs precipitate the testing of expectations. In a preliminary assessment of this model, 43 mothers were interviewed at 1 month and 13 months after birth. Changes in relationship satisfaction were related strongly to the extent to which mothers perceived that their expectations for support had been disconfirmed. The results are consistent with the proposed model and suggest the value of considering the effects of social support in light of the individual's expectancies.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developing a synagis clinic for respiratory syncytial virus prophylaxis.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) can be devastating to premature infants and children with chronic lung disease. Palivizumab (Synagis) is a monoclonal antibody that is administered monthly by injection to prevent RSV infection in infants at high risk. This article describes a nurse-run ambulatory clinic to provide RSV prophylaxis. Coordination with other agencies, including community neonatal intensive care units, was essential to the clinic's success. For each of its first 2 years of operation, 24 infants and their families attended the clinic once each month for 5 months throughout the RSV season. Outcomes for this patient population were compared to outcomes reported in the literature, and include reduced RSV-related hospitalizations and reduced days of hospitalization.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Personal and professional support for mothers of NICU and healthy newborns.

Personal support provided by close social network members and professional support provided by nurses were studied in 83 postpartum mothers and newborns in neonatal intensive care units and newborn nurseries. Mothers perceived each type of support differently in terms of outcomes. Only personal support was significantly related to emotional affect and life satisfaction outcomes. Both personal and professional support were related to relationship satisfaction outcomes. Findings suggest that personal support and professional support be treated as separate concepts.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temperament and interactive effects: mothers and infants in a teaching situation.

Temperament is a theoretical concept used to understand individual's behavioral styles. In this study, temperament was measured in 13-month-old infants (N = 51) and their mothers, who were also observed together in a teaching situation. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationships between maternal and infant temperaments and interactive behaviors in the teaching situation. Mothers were given 10 minutes to teach infants four tasks designed to assess qualitative aspects of the interaction. In general, the interaction between mother and infant had a synchronous quality that was influenced by, but largely independent of, the temperamental characteristics of mother and infant. Responsive maternal teaching behaviors were significantly related to positive infant affect during teaching. Weak relationships were found between the temperament variables and interactive behaviors in the teaching situation. When mothers and infants were matched on temperament characteristics, no effects of matching temperaments on interactive behaviors in the teaching situation were found. These findings suggest that mothers are able to adjust their behaviors to compensate for their infant's temperament. Based on these data, nurses can focus on the dynamics of the interactions themselves and avoid making judgments based on temperament alone when evaluating mother-infant relationships.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parents' struggles to rebuild family life after Hurricane Andrew.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of parents' everyday experiences after a major natural disaster. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 parents who lived in the hurricane-damaged area. The essence of being a parent emerged as "struggling to rebuild family life." The struggles were superimposed on top of ongoing issues such as divorce and job responsibilities. Parents described feelings of being thankful to be alive, being overwhelmed, being limited by environmental aftereffects, being responsible for children, balancing needs and roles, constantly changing amidst uncertainty, and finding meaning in the disaster. Study findings support the need for nursing interventions that address family needs, support strengths, and involve parents as active decision makers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗