IDENTIFICATION OF THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES ON THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT OF A SAMPLE OF MODERATELY PRETERM INFANTS.
Contributors: Boston University.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 305
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Human Development.
Description: The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of selected auditory and visual interactive experiences on the level of psychosocial development of neurologically sound, moderately preterm, appropriate for gestational age (AGA), relatively well neonates. The selected interactive experiences were provided through an adjunct interactive nursing care plan (AINCP). The theoretical basis of the study was Piaget's theory of sensorimotor development.

The hypothesis predicted that there was no relationship between the provision of the adjunct interactive nursing care plan and the level of psychosocial development of the subjects in the study as identified on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) (Brazelton, 1973), including the supplementary items.

The methodology was an experiment. Similar subjects (n = 20) were randomly placed within a control or an experimental group. The pretest and posttest was the BNBAS. The subjects of the experimental group (n = 10) were provided with the adjunct interactive nursing care plan to be included within their regular nursing care plan each day for nine days. The study treatment was scheduled to be applied during five feeding periods for each of the nine days. The subjects in the control group (n = 10) received routine care.

The results of the study demonstrated that all subjects met the definition of neurologically sound, moderately preterm, appropriate for gestational age, and relatively well. The staff registered nurses, with instruction, were able to provide the treatment. They did so at the rate of thirty-two percent of the planned total. The preterm neonates were able to respond to the auditory and visual aliment at a rate of seventy-seven and four-tenths percent. The staff nurses were able to recognize and describe those responses. There was no difference in the level of development of the subjects in the two groups both at the time of the pretest and the posttest. Within the groups, the development which did occur over time supported Als et al.'s (1982) model of synaction for the development of preterm neonates.

The conclusions included that the treatment was provided at a rate no greater than at what might have occurred by chance. Recommendations included that the study be repeated to examine staffing patterns in the NICU.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: B, page: 2127.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--BOSTON UNIVERSITY, 1987.

School code: 0017.