The Role of Optimism in Health-Promoting Behaviors in New Primiparous Mothers

Measurement instruments for parental stress in the postpartum period: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Parenting stress is a particular type of stress that is conceptualized as a negative psychological response to the numerous obligations associated with raising children. Despite a considerable increase in research on parenting stress, little attention has been given to the ways parenting stress are measured.

OBJECTIVES

This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of available instruments measuring parental stress and to describe their psychometric properties.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review in accordance with international guidelines for scoping reviews. The main search strategy was searches in seven electronic databases. Pairs of reviewers selected relevant studies based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies had to report one or more psychometric properties of an instrument measuring stress in parents with children 0-12 months. For each included study, we collected information relevant to the review question, guided by the COnsensus based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN). Finally, we collated, summarized, and reported the findings descriptively.

RESULTS

From 2164 unique record, 64 studies from 24 countries were included. They described 15 instruments, of which four were generic and eleven parental-specific self-administered instruments. Only two studies examined parental stress among fathers. Eleven of the studies were validation studies, but they only described seven of the 15 instruments. Internal consistency was the only information provided by 73.4% of the included studies. None of the instruments had information on all measurement properties as per the COSMIN criteria, and there was no information about measurement error, responsiveness, or interpretability for any of the 15 instruments.

DISCUSSION

There are presently 15 instruments with some associated psychometric information being used to measure parental stress among parents with young children, but the amount of information on the instruments' psychometric properties is slight. There is a need for further research.

Factors Related to Behavioral Functioning in Mothers of Children with Type 1 Diabetes: Application of Transactional Model of Stress and Coping

BACKGROUND

Having a child with diabetes creates a great deal of stress for mothers. The transactional model of stress and coping is one of the best conceptual frameworks for stressors.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate factors related to health promoting behaviors based on transactional model in mothers of children with type 1 diabetes.

METHODS

This study was conducted on 180 mothers of children with type 1 diabetes. The data was collected using a multi-sectional questionnaire including demographic characteristics and questions about the model constructs. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 19) and using statistical tests.

RESULTS

The highest mean score was related to interpersonal relationships (13.8 ± 4.5) and the lowest was related to stress management (10.8 ± 4.2). Linear regression model showed that mother's education, information seeking, and social support had a positive effect, and primary appraisal and emotion-focused coping had a negative effect on the mother's health promotion behaviors. In the regression model R-square accounts for 53.7% of the variance.

CONCLUSIONS

The transactional model was an appropriate framework for explaining the coping outcomes in mothers of children with type 1 diabetes. By mothers' attempts to improve attitude about diabetes and reduce their vulnerability, training to use coping strategies, increasing information and inter-sectoral interventions for attracting sufficient support from patients' families can be hopeful in improving mothers' behavioral Functioning.

HIV Testing Among Teens Attending Therapeutic Schools: Having a Personal Source of Information About HIV/AIDS Matters!

Being informed and using positive coping strategies are associated with engaging in health-promoting behaviors. We assessed whether the type of information source about HIV (personal or impersonal) and coping strategies (optimism, avoidance, or emotion-focused) are associated with HIV testing among adolescents attending therapeutic schools. Participants were 417 adolescents, ages 13-19, who attended one of 20 therapeutic day schools for emotionally/behaviorally disordered youth in two US cities (Providence, RI and Chicago, IL) and completed a baseline assessment for an HIV prevention study. Among adolescents in the study, 29% reported having been tested for HIV. Adolescents were more likely to have been tested if they were older, female, Hispanic, identified as non-heterosexual, came from lower SES households, and had recently had unprotected sex. Additionally, youth who endorsed greater use of optimistic thinking and emotion-focused coping, and who reported having been informed about HIV by more personal sources, were also more likely to have been tested for HIV. In a multivariate analysis, having had recent unprotected sex and having more personal sources of information about HIV/AIDS were independently associated with HIV testing. Study findings suggest that, controlling for sociodemographic background, sexual risk behavior, and coping strategy, HIV testing among adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems may be increased when adolescents learn about HIV/AIDS from personal sources such as their healthcare providers, family, and friends.

A mixed-methods study on factors influencing prenatal weight gain in ethnic-minority women

INTRODUCTION

Gaining too much weight in pregnancy is associated with perinatal complications and increases the risks of future obesity for both women and their infants. Unfortunately, women enrolled in intervention trials have seen little improvement in adherence to prenatal weight gain recommendations compared to women receiving standard prenatal care. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive mixed-methods study was to explore factors related to excessive weight gain in pregnancy.

METHODS

Nonpregnant nulliparous women, currently pregnant women, and postpartum women (N = 43) were recruited from a health center serving an inner-city minority community. Women completed questionnaires on knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors related to nutrition, exercise, and prenatal weight gain. Fifteen of these women participated in focus groups. Focus group data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti (Scientific Software Development GmbH, Berlin, Germany). Codes were created, themes were identified, and consensus was reached through multiple iterations of the analysis by study personnel.

RESULTS

Excessive weight gain was common. Nutritional knowledge was poor and significantly lower among nonpregnant nulliparous women. Women felt sure that they could engage in healthy behaviors, but few did so. Participants in focus groups identified multiple barriers to healthy behaviors in pregnancy and made suggestions on how to help women more readily make improvements in these behaviors.

DISCUSSION

Strategies identified in this study such as providing focused education directed at nonpregnant nulliparous women, stressing portion control, helping women better manage their cravings, and providing more pragmatic support and resources need to be explored in future research.

Overcoming: a concept analysis

BACKGROUND

Nurses often work with individuals and populations striving to improve or maintain the quality of their lives. Many, struggling from complex health and social problems, are challenged to surmount barriers to achieve this goal. The growing number of homeless families in the United States represent one such cohort.

AIMS

To develop an operational definition of overcoming and explicate its meaning, attributes, and characteristics as it relates to homeless families.

METHODS

Using the concept analysis method described by Walker and Avant, along with an extensive literature review, and sample cases pertaining to family homelessness, we delineated the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of the concept, overcoming.

CONCLUSION

The results of this concept analysis, particularly the relationship of overcoming to family homelessness, provide guidance for further conceptualization and empirical testing, as well as for clinical practice.