Psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale among postpartum women.

Background: Maternal parenting self-efficacy plays a critical role in facilitating positive parenting practices and successful adaption to motherhood. The Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (PMPS-E), as a task-specific measure, confirms its psychometric properties in cultural contexts. Compared with other tools, the advantages of the PMPS-E are as follows: (i) specific context or time period during the lifespan of a child, (ii) explicitly assess parenting self-efficacy across a diverse enough range of parenting tasks or activities during the perinatal/postnatal period and (iii) having robust psychometric properties.

Breastfeeding success and its relation to maternal pain, behaviour, mental health, and social support.

Objective: We aimed to understand the maternal experience of breastfeeding onset and how psychological, social and clinical variables as pain during breastfeeding, may interfere with it.

Methods: A cross-sectional study investigated 395 post-delivery women able to breastfeed from 48 hours to 6 days for unpleasant breastfeeding, maternal stress during pregnancy and postnatal mental state. Social Readjustment Rating Scale evaluated prenatal maternal stress.

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-efficacy (PMP S-E) Tool for Primiparous Women.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the validity and the reliability of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy tool translated into Spanish and adapted to be used among primiparous women of term babies.

Methods: Validation study. A total of 210 women participated in the survey to establish construct validity and reliability.

Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E) tool: development and validation with mothers of hospitalized preterm neonates.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy tool.

Background: Mothers' perceptions of their ability to parent (maternal parenting self-efficacy) is a critical mechanism guiding their interactions with their preterm newborns. A robust measure is needed which can measure mothers' perceptions of their ability to understand and care for their hospitalized preterm neonates as well as being sensitive to the various levels and tasks in parenting.

Neurobehavioral assessment predicts differential outcome between VLBW and ELBW preterm infants.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of birth weight on development of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants using the Neurobehavioral Assessment of the Preterm Infant (NAPI) before hospital discharge, and to show the relation to follow-up outcomes at 12, 18 and 30 months of age.

Study Design: In total, 113 preterm infants were assessed with the NAPI at 36 weeks postmenstrual age. Later, neurodevelopment was examined using the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screener (BINS) at 12 months and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, at 18 and 30 months.

Grasping and fingering (active or haptic touch) in healthy newborns.

The traditional view that the activity of the baby's hands are triggered by a stimulus in an automatic, compulsory, stereotyped way and persisting view that fingering does not occur prior to 4 months of age, have led perception researchers to the assumption that the processing, encoding, and retainment of sensory information could not take place through the manual mode. This study aims to investigate whether fingering and different types of grasping occur before 3 months of age and can be modulated by surface texture of three objects. Using naturalistic observations, this small sample developmental study applied the AB experimental design to achieve aims above.

Maternal-fetal attachment: searching for a new definition.

Maternal-fetal attachment is the purest source of the powerful attachment relationship, the gradual internalisation of the life within unspoilt by the realities and complexities of early parenting. This qualitative study searches for a definition of attachment utilising a phenomenological framework. An opportunity sample of 10 women in the final trimester of pregnancy was interviewed.

Prematurity and adult minor illness.

The long term impact of being born premature has received limited scientific investigation. Studies that have been carried out, focus on outcomes in childhood, with very few considering the impact on adult physical health. Three case studies are presented here, investigating differences in adult minor illness and psychological variables between adult participants born preterm, fullterm but small and fullterm with normal birthweight.

Perceived Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E) of mothers who are breastfeeding hospitalised preterm neonates.

Breastfeeding is a complex task for many mothers but may be particularly difficult when coping with the birth of a preterm. In the following article the task of breastfeeding a preterm neonate is identified as one facet of the parenting process and the many problems encountered when breastfeeding are highlighted. Research is presented which investigates whether breastfeeding a preterm neonate mediates mothers' Perceived Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E) whilst in hospital.

Neonatal Health Psychology [NNHP]: theories and practice.

By 1994, Health Psychology had been established as a discipline, and defined by Marie Johnston as the scientific study of the psychological processes and behaviour in health, illness and health care. Health Psychology, so far, has mainly related to the adult population, although increasing attention is now being paid to both pediatric and broadly-based child health psychology. It is noteworthy that attention devoted to pediatric and child health psychology has increased dramatically, but the great majority of published work refers to the child and not to the preterm neonate; yet being preterm means being born early, and sometimes too small, and is a stressful life event.

Foetal origins theory: links with adult depression and general self-efficacy.

Objective: Foetal origins theory has suggested that early environment can affect vulnerability to major diseases in later life. Recent research also suggests that foetal hormonal programming may influence neurotransmitter and hormone levels affecting adult psychological states (i.e.

Detection of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in saliva of ventilated and non-ventilated preterm neonates.

The very young preterm neonate has multiple immune deficiencies which may increase his or her vulnerability to infection. Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA) plays an important role in the protection of epithelial surfaces exposed to the external environment; nevertheless controversy exists with regards to the ontogeny of SIgA in newborns and especially the preterm neonate. The objective was to investigate if SIgA could be detected in the saliva of very/extremely low birthweight neonates (V/ELBW).

Neonatal Psychoneuroimmunology: Emergence, Scope and Perspectives.

Interdisciplinary Neonatology investigates and cares for at-risk babies, including risk for developmental disabilities. Psychoneuroimmunology seeks to unravel relationships amongst behavioural, neural, endocrine, and immune processes, and their mutual role in maintaining health and treating disease. This article presents an integrative approach to the emergence, scope and perspectives of a new sub-discipline, i.

The mediating role of cutaneous sensitivity within neonatal psychoneuroimmunology.

Preliminary results of this study have been presented at the ICIS Conferences held in Atlanta, 1998; a Summary of results has been quoted in Adamson-Macedo (1997; 1998). OBJECTIVES: Despite knowledge that preterm infants in intensive care are in distress and need to be provided with appropriate intervention, studies with ventilated babies are still rare particularly during their first weeks of life. This study tested the hypothesis that cutaneous stimulation in the form of TAC-TIC therapy, involving only light stroking and NOT massage or kinesthetic massage, has a mediating role in eliciting beneficial psychoneuroimmunological coactions in the ventilated preterm during the first week of post-natal life.