Effect of less frequent bathing of preterm infants on skin flora and pathogen colonization.

Objective: To determine if less frequent bathing alters colony count or type of organism in skin flora of preterm infants.

Design: Descriptive, repeated measures study.

Setting: A regional neonatal intensive-care unit.

Predictors of development in premature infants from low-income families: African Americans and Hispanics.

Objective: The goal of the study was to determine the factors that affect the motor and mental development of premature Latino and African American infants from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Study Design: A prospective study of 41 low birth weight (LBW) African American infants along with 82 LBW Hispanic infants examined the factors that influence mental and motor development at 8 months of age. Multiple regression analysis was performed to correlate perinatal, environmental, and demographic variables with mental and motor development using the Bayley scales of infant development.

Nursing care of Arab children: consideration of cultural factors.

As the number of Arabs living in the United States increases, so does the number of children of Arab descent seeking medical attention. However, despite the sizable and ever increasing number of American Arabs, their health beliefs and practices remain relatively unexplored. When cultural differences exist with regard to beliefs about health and illness, health practices, and health-seeking behavior, the process of health-related interaction becomes difficult and often detrimental to health outcomes.

Therapeutic play for hospitalized preschoolers in Lebanon.

Therapeutic play in the form of an interactive puppet show was administered to 50 preschool children one day before surgery in a hospital in Lebanon. A control group of 50 preschool children received routine care but no therapeutic play. Physiological and behavioral measures were assessed on admission, at the time of a stressful procedure (preoperative injection), after surgery, and after discharge.