Abstract

This study of mothers of children in Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) created two measures, (a) Health Related Family Boundary Ambiguity (HRFBA:PICU), (b) Maternal Caretaking Behavior (MCOS:PICU), and explored relationships between Health Related Family Boundary Ambiguity (HRFBA), Caretaking Behaviors, and Stress (STAI; Spielberger, et al., 1983). In Phase I, 156 parents of children in 4 PICU's were recruited for psychometric evaluation of HRFBA:PICU. Thirteen likert-type scale items were developed from a grounded theory study of family uncertainty in PICU (Turner, Tomlinson & Harbaugh, 1990), building from Pauline Boss's Family Boundary Ambiguity construct (Boss & Greenberg, 1984). Internal consistency estimate (Cronbach's alpha) for the HRFBA:PICU was .81. Concurrent validity testing (n = 156) revealed significant positive relationships with Parent Stressor Scale: Parent Role Alteration Stress (PSS:PRAS) (Carter & Miles, 1982) and Mishel Illness Uncertainty Scale: Parent Child Form (MUIS:PCF) (Mishel, 1983). Construct validity testing (factor analysis) resulted in a 4 factor structure, with eigenvalues >1.00, accounting for 59% of the variance: Parental Affection and Protection, Parental Responsibilities and Rights, Parental Autonomy and Family Boundary Maintenance. Results of contrasted groups validity using a median split indicated HRFBA:PICU is sensitive to group differences in preparedness and child awareness, but not group differences in illness severity, nor number of PICU admissions. Results indicate sufficient reliability and validity for use of the HRFBA:PICU. In Phase II, ethological methods were used to create the maternal caretaking observation schedule (MCOS:PICU). Seven mothers' video recordings were analyzed to develop an ethogram containing 24 maternal caretaking behavior codes. Codes were formatted into a time-interval recording instrument. in Phase III, relationships among Caretaking Behaviors (MCOS:PICU), Stress (STAI), and HRFBA (HRFBA:PICU) were examined (n = 31). Results showed a positive relationship between Stress and HRFBA:PICU, but no significant relationships among Caretaking Behavior, Stress, and HRFBA. Multiple regressions were performed to examine the relative contributions of (a) wo Caretaking Behaviors, and (b) llness Severity and one Caretaking Behavior, respectively, on Stress and HRFBA (n = 31). Results indicated that neither Caretaking Behavior, nor Caretaking Behavior and Illness Severity combined, predicted Stress or HRFBA. Findings suggest nurses should use caution in relying on behaviors as indicators of psychological states.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9916429; ProQuest document ID: 304525611. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Dr. Bonnie L. Harbaugh, PhD, RN

Sigma Membership

Gamma Lambda

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Observational

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Family Relationships, Severely Ill Children, Mother-child Relationships

Advisors

Tomlinson, Patricia Short||Gross, Cynthia

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of Minnesota

Degree Year

1999

Rights Holder

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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

2019-05-06

Full Text of Presentation

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