A THEORY SYNTHESIS: THE EFFECT OF POSITIVE STIMULATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PREMATURE INFANT.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 215
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Human Development.
Description: This study was designed to construct and compare two theories of positive stimulation and its effect on the development of the premature infant, utilizing a literary theory synthesis method and critical analysis. The purposes of constructing two theories were to determine: (1) if critical analysis made a difference in the theoretical explanations of the theories (i.e., concepts, hypotheses and research questions); (2) how positive stimulation effects the development of the premature infant; (3) how premature infants at various gestational ages (28 to 37 weeks) respond to positive stimulation, and (4) why positive stimulation effects the development of the premature infant.

Four major areas of critical analysis (Duffy and Harold, 1983) were utilized to evaluate the research studies as reliable and unreliable. Additionally, seven steps in a literary synthesis method (Walker and Avant, 1983) were used to construct the theories of positive stimulation (Model I, reliable research, and Model II, unreliable research).

The sample of this investigation was selected from studies and books published in the English language between 1960 and 1983. Based on five criteria utilized for including studies in the sample, twenty-nine studies from an initial sample of sixty-one were selected.

The data indicated that critical analysis of the research studies utilized in theory construction made a difference in the theoretical explanation of the theories. While five of the concepts in Model I and Model II were the same or similar by definition, the intervening variables and the direct linkages of the similar concepts were not the same, therefore changing the emphasis of the theories. Additionally, only two hypotheses developed from the theories were similar. The remaining six hypotheses of Model I and nine hypotheses of Model II were dissimilar. Finally, in examining the research questions, both Model I and Model II indicated that positive stimulation will enhance the development of the premature infant. However, Model I suggests that the rate of development for each gestational age is enhanced by positive stimulation, with a subsequent leveling-off effect for the older premature infant. Model II does not make this point explicit.

Furthermore, Model I indicates that the rate of physical development and social interactive behaviors are enhanced by the age of the infant and the digestive tract characteristics. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: B, page: 1429.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1983.

School code: 0227.