| Series |
ECU School of Nursing thesis
ECU School of Nursing thesis. UNAUTHORIZED
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| Summary |
The birth of an infant may not always be a joyful experience. When a high risk infant is born the family experiences a crisis. Most Neonatal Intensive Care Units offer flexible visiting hours for parents and some offer sibling visitation. The purpose of this study was to determine if behavioral changes occur in children 3 through 5 years of age after visiting a sibling in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). A case study approach was used. The sample consisted of 5 mothers with 5 preschool age children and 5 high risk infants who required admission to the NICU. The mothers completed questionnaires based on a modification of The Maternal Perception of Preschool Child Behavior at three different time intervals; one within 72 hours of the high risk infant's admission to the NICU, another at the time of the sibling visit in the NICU, and another at one week following the sibling visit to the high risk infant in the NICU. The Maternal Perception of Preschool Child Behavior focused on four categories of behavior; eating, sleeping, toileting, and general behavior. The findings showed behavioral changes occurred at some time during the study period in all of the 5 siblings as reported by their mothers. Most of the changes occurred after the sibling visit as compared to prior to maternal hospitalization. The most noticeable behavioral changes reported by the mothers occurred in the eating, sleeping, and general behavior categories. More research is needed about the effects on siblings visiting in the NICU. Nurses can play a vital role in helping families of siblings who experience the crisis of having a high risk infant requiring admission to an NICU. The results of this study should provide nurses with information that can be used in anticipatory guidance of parents about common behavioral changes in preschool age siblings. These findings can also be considered in planning strategies to prepare preschool age siblings for visiting in the NICU. |
| General note | Submitted to the faculty of the School of Nursing. |
| General note | Advisor: Emilie D.Henning |
| Dissertation note | M.S. East Carolina University 1988 |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-67). |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Thèses et écrits académiques. |
