ARTICULATED AND DIFFERENTIATED RESPONSES OF MOTHERS TO CARE TAKING ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN IN CASTS (HOME, ORTHOPEDICS, IMMOBILIZATION).
Contributors: University of Pittsburgh.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 96
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: A descriptive study was conducted to identify mothers' responses relative to the care taking activities of toileting, sleeping, feeding, and playing of children in hip spica casts during the first week at home following the childrens' discharge from the hospital. Ten mothers were interviewed in their homes using a semi-structured interview guide developed by the investigator. Mothers' tape recorded responses provided data for the study. Content analysis was used to examine the raw data and revealed two major categories: articulated responses and differentiated responses. Articulated responses included four subcategories: performing, evaluating, receiving, and engaging. Differentiated responses included two subcategories: discriminating and acquiring. The distribution of the mothers' responses across care taking activities and categories and subcategories of responses was determined in terms of frequency and ratio. The distribution of the mothers' responses was also determinedwith respect to two different age cohorts. Articulated responses were two and one-half times greater than differentiated responses. There was minimal difference between mothers of younger and older aged children in the incidence of articulated and differentiated responses, although variance was found in the distribution of responses across subcategories. Mothers' responses to the care taking activities in descending order of dominance were toileting, sleeping, playing, and feeding. It was concluded that mothers found their responsibilities in performing care taking activities for their children in casts at home challenging and demanding. The sample of mothers in this study were forced by circumstances to take on immediately the care of their children in casts. No time was permitted the mother to experiment and practice new approaches to care. Implications for the development of protocols to assist mothers in the successful performance of maternal care taking activities were identified.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-12, Section: B, page: 4185.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1985.

School code: 0178.