Abstract

Infant morbidity and mortality continues to be a significant problem in the U. S. Preterm birth and/or low birth weight and congenital anomalies are primary causes of infant morbidity and mortality. Analysis of an existing study was done on data from a prospective longitudinal, case based, mixed-methods research study to examine learning needs of parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) whose infants were born with complex cardiac anomalies or born extremely premature. The principles of Knowles' Theory of Adult Learning were used to frame the study and findings. Systematic review of the parent and provider interview transcripts from six cases and nurse-kept Interdisciplinary Patient and Family Education Records was conducted to determine parent education needs and provider given information during and after the infant's hospitalization. Findings revealed the theme of parents wanting to answer the question, 'What is going on with my baby's care?' while information given by providers was classified under the theme 'Whose Team are you on?' Resources utilized to find information by parents were explained by the theme, 'Help me Learn'. Contextual variables of parents were also noted to impact learning needs of parents depending on whether the infant was hospitalized or discharged from the hospital and were grouped into themes of 'Issues Before the Infant's Birth' and 'Adjustment to Everyday Life'. Providers need to be aware of the learning needs of parents, potential factors that may influence this learning, and to consider these needs when giving infant care.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3568930; ProQuest document ID: 1425265124. The author still retains copyright.

Author's name was Jennifer Twaddell at the time of the dissertation.

Author Details

Jennifer Marie Wells, PhD, RN

Sigma Membership

Beta Epsilon

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Case Study/Series

Research Approach

Mixed/Multi Method Research

Keywords:

Preterm Infants, Caring for Special Needs Infants, Infant Care Eduation

Advisor

Lynne P. Lewallen

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Degree Year

2013

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2020-04-08

Full Text of Presentation

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