A Q ANALYSIS OF NURSING BEHAVIORS WHICH FACILITATE THE GRIEF WORK OF PARENTS WITH A PREMATURE INFANT IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT.
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 119
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Parental grief responses to the loss of a desired child are compounded when their premature infant is admitted to a neonatal intensive care nursery. Nursing behaviors which facilitate parental grief work assume crucial importance for the parents who have developmental self-care requisites related to their infant's premature birth. The purpose of this research was to describe nursing behaviors which facilitate parents' grief work related to having a premature infant in a neonatal intensive care unit. The conceptual framework was derived from Schneider's (1984) Holistic Model of Grief Process, the nursing agency construct of Orem's (1985) Self-Care Model, and Q methodology.

Nursing behaviors were identified through a review of literature related to parental responses to their premature infant, characteristics of normal grief and bereavement, and nursing behaviors which facilitate grief and bereavement. Items were reviewed by a panel of experts for content validity. Reliability was determined by test-retest method.

The final instrument was administered to 10 nurses and 10 parents with an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit. A Q-type factor analysis of the data revealed three person types. The subjects' assignment to type was influenced by their responses to items in the Q-sort instrument and whether they were a nurse or a parent. One-tailed tests of significance revealed a significant difference between person types. Type 1 persons emphasized nursing behaviors which provided physical or psychological support as most facilitating with parental grief work. In contrast, Type 2 persons perceived nursing behaviors which provided teaching as most facilitating with parental grief work, and the Type 3 person perceived nursing behaviors which provided guidance as most facilitating with parental grief work.

It was recommended that Q methodology be used with other parent and nursing populations to determine nursing behaviors which facilitate parental grief work. It was also recommended that perceptions of facilitating grief work behaviors in relation to chronology of hospitalization be investigated.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: B, page: 0661.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1989.

School code: 0005.