Emotion work and emotional labour, neglected facets of parental health information work. Analysing mothers of neurodivergent children

The neoliberal and biomedical 'good caregiver' discourse neglects the many facets of everyday information work that parents of children with special needs are required to do as they seek, receive and share information concerning their children's health and wellbeing. Along with time and skills, one such neglected facet is emotion work, the management of feelings in relation to societal norms. The purpose of this article is to explore emotion work, as a facet in parental health information work in the care and education sector, among mothers of neurodivergent children. Our analysis draws on interviews with 50 Swedish mothers of neurodivergent children. We present three primary insights. 1. Emotion work, on the self as well as on others, is pivotal to the information work that the mothers carry out in the education and care sector as they strive to ameliorate their children's situation. 2. Contested diagnoses, such as diagnoses associated with neurodivergent conditions, result in intense parental information and emotion work. 3. Fragmented and complex education and care systems, alongside traditional gender structures, compel mothers to undertake extensive information and emotion work.

The Effect of Informing Patient Relatives with a Short Message on Anxiety Levels during Cardiovascular Surgery in Türkiye: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Surgical procedures cause a certain level of anxiety in the relatives of the patients, it has been observed that heart surgeries cause more anxiety.

AIM

To determine the effects of informing patients' relatives with short messages on anxiety levels during cardiovascular surgery.

METHODS

The study was conducted as a randomized controlled research investigation from October 1, 2015, to December 31, 2022, at the cardiovascular surgery operating room of a university hospital and included 84 patient relatives (42 experimental and 42 control group). The Patient Relatives Information Form and the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to collect the study data. The patients' relatives in the experimental group were informed by short messages (preparations for surgery have begun, your relative's surgery has started, your relative's surgery is still ongoing, and your relative's surgery is completed) during the surgery. State Anxiety Inventory was re-administered to all patients' relatives after cardiovascular surgery. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05157789).

RESULTS

It was found that the postoperative State Anxiety Inventory score of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.001). The difference between preoperative and postoperative state anxiety scores was significantly higher in the experimental group (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Informing the patients' relatives with a short message during cardiovascular surgery significantly reduced the level of anxiety.

Institutional and family support impact on health-related quality of life of children with autism spectrum disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic

PROBLEMS

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have a notably poorer quality of life than the general population, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to analyze the association between institutional support and family support on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2022 in a School for Special Needs in Malang City, East Java Province, Indonesia. The pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL) and Institutional and Family Support questionnaire were used to measure the HRQoL and support perceived by parents of children with ASD. We analyzed each component of the PedsQL and the Institutional and Family Support questionnaire. The independent T-test was performed to analyze the association between HRQoL and perceived support by parents of children with ASD.

FINDINGS

The results showed that most participants (72.7%) were women aged 40. As many as 69.39% of participants had more than one child, and 16.33% declared they had other children who experienced the same problem (special needs children). This study indicated that the average health-related quality of life score in children with ASD was 57.41 (9.418). The finding of this study showed a significant mean difference in HRQoL scores in children with ASD who received high institutional and family support compared to those who had low (p = 0.028, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -11.071 to 0.664).

CONCLUSION

Institutional support positively impacts children with ASD's quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to improve the adequacy of support felt by families while caring for children with ASD.

Nursing intervention to meet the family members' needs during the surgery waiting time

Objective:

to assess the effect of a care intervention focused on meeting the needs of family members of surgical patients during the surgery waiting time, when compared to conventional care.

Method:

a study with a quasi-experimental design that was developed from December 2019 to February 2020 and included 313 family members (Intervention Group=149 and Control Group=164) from a private hospital. The intervention consisted in four moments: “knowing the surgical environment and process”, “information when the surgery starts”, “information when the surgery ends”, and “family-patient reunion”. The “satisfaction” variable was assessed through the “Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality Questionnaire” instrument. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. The study observed the ethical principles in research.

Results:

the family members in the Intervention Group presented greater satisfaction with Nursing care, 90.07(9.8), when compared to the Comparison Group, 78.72(16.38), with an 11.35-point increase(p=0.000).

Conclusion:

the results showed that the families that received the intervention on the patient’s status during the surgery waiting time were more satisfied with Nursing care in comparison to the conventional intervention.