Mothers Experiences Caring for Their Children - Essay Example

Cheryl Tatano Beck is a at the of Connecticut, School of Nursing. She has a Bachelor Degree in Nursing from Western Connecticut State University and a Master’s degree in maternal newborn nursing from Yale University. In addition, she attained her Doctorate degree in Nursing Science from Boston University. Her professional interests include; postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, Instrument Development, Meta - Synthesis and Meta – Analysis. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Her contribution in field of research has enable her receive numerous awards such as the Eastern Nursing Research Society’s Distinguished Researcher Award, the Connecticut Nurse’ Association’s Diamond Jubilee award and many others. For the past 20 years, Cheryl main area of research has been on efforts to develop a research program on postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. Based on findings from the numerous studies she has undertaken, she has developed the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) which has been and continues to be published by Western Psychological Services. “There is no escaping the reality for Mothers of Children with Obstetric Brachial Plexus injuries” is one of the papers written by Cheryl after extensive research on mothers experiencing care for their children with an OBPI. The site of the study was the United States of America and a total of 23 mothers of children with OBPIs were used for the study. Research on mothers experiencing care for their children with an OBPI by Cheryl is a phenomenology research. This is because it involves small number of samples and is basically concerned with the systematic reflection on and study of the structures of conscience and the phenomena that appear in acts of consciousness. Shoulder dystocia is considered the obstetric nightmare and some likely complication of shoulder dystocia to the infant is obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI). Generally, 20% to 30% of infants with OBPI are characterized by residual functional deficits (Beck, 2004). The main objective of the study was to investigate mothers’ experiences caring for their children who have obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI) (Beck, 2004). The purpose of the study is practical because Cheryl focuses on mothers who had experience caring for children suffering from obstetric brachial plexus injury. The study states that the recent countrywide study in the USA, the reported mean and standard error of OBPI incidence was 1.51+-0.02 per 1000 live births. It is worth noting that the statistics is based 1997, 2000 and 2003 data on more than 11 million births in Inpatient database (Beck, 2004. The sample size of the study comprised of 23 mothers from the USA who had children suffering from OBPI. The mother’s age ranged from 25 to 47 years while that of their children ranged from 3 months to 10 years. Of the 23 women selected for the study, 1 was single, 3 were divorced and 19 were married (Beck, 2004). In terms of ethnicity; 1 each was Hispanic, Black and Asian while 18 were Caucasian. However, 2 of the women did not reveal their ethnic background. In terms of education, 2 of the women had high school diplomas, 3 reported partial colleges, 3 had associate degrees, 7 had bachelor’s degrees, and 4 had master’s degree while 2 attained doctoral degree. However, two of the participants did not reveal their level of education (Beck, 2004). Two methods was used to collect data-the Internet and in-person interviews. This followed an approval from the university’s institutional review board. There was quite a long period of time for data collection starting from October 2005 to December 2007. Because of the in-person interviews, the data collection method was partly a field study since it involved the researcher going to the camp to collect data (Beck, 2004). The researcher played a vital role in ensuring validity of the data through going out to the field and having first-hand information from those families who had experience with OBPI. These families gave a detailed account of their thoughts and feelings that they wish to share about these experiences. Internet: This was one of the methods of collecting date. A recruitment notice was placed on the United Brachial Plexus Network website. On how to obtain the information; mothers who showed interest on knowing more about the study send direct emails to the researcher. The researcher then responded through sending an information sheet and directions of how to participate in the study. A total of 11 women preferred this method of data collection. The actual data was obtained through stories received from the participants (Beck, 2004). In-Person Interviewers: the remaining 12 women preferred this method of data collection. This involved personal interview by the researcher at a biennial UBPN camp in Seattle. The camp mainly brought together those families who have had experience of OBPI either directly or indirectly. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim (Beck, 2004). The mother’s description of their experiences caring for their children with an OBPI was analyzed using the Colaizzi’s (1978) written protocol analysis. This method of analysis was preferred because of its flexibility in procedural steps and sequencing of the steps. For every significant statement attained from the mother’s descriptions, a meaning was created. This was followed by the organization of all the formulated meanings into clusters of themes. For the identification of mother’s experiences caring for their children with an OBPI, the results were integrated into an exhaustive description, which in turn was condensed into as clear a statement as possible. Two of the participants were used to validate the findings. Throughout the data analysis, the researcher referred to her field notes to help ensure that she was remaining faithful to the participants’ descriptions (Beck, 2004). The results of the study answered the question of the study. From the results, the research was able to highlight the experiences that mothers with children suffering from OBPI are undergoing. From the data analysis, a total of 252 significant statements were revealed (Beck, 2004). These statements were then organized into six themes describing the participant’s experience caring for their children with an OBPI. While detailing their experiences, the participants preferred to use the term BPI as opposed to OBPI. The results revealed that all the participants cared for their children with an OBPI (Beck, 2004). Theme 1. In an Instant: Dream’s shattered For mothers their dreams were shattered in an instant as the baby’s arm hung limply from the shoulder in the delivery room, and that is something they never will be able to get back. Theme2. The Arm: No escaping The reality: The birth injury permeated all aspects participant’s lives. Their days were characterized with routine of therapy and multiple surgeries. This was a reality that they had to live with. Theme 3. Tormented: Agonizing Worries and Questions Mothers were tormented with anger, worry and numerous rhetorical questions about their children’s OBPI. In addition, there was so much heartache for mothers to bear as the permanency OBPI becomes a reality. Theme 4: Therapy and surgeries Therapy session virtually takes over all the time of the mother. During the early years of, the schedule of the mother is characterized by several motion and stretching exercises. Theme 5: Anger: Simmering Pot Inside The festering emotion of anger was prevalent in mothers. What angered them more was the fact that this lifelong injury was preventable. This anger was directed at the hospital at large and specifically to the obstetricians and nurses. Theme 6: So Much to Bear: Enduring Heartbreak This condition was lifelong experience and so is the heartache. The mothers confirmed that time never truly heals a permanent brachial plexus injury and hence time will never heal a mother’s broken heart either (Beck, 2004). This study has been supported by several other studies. For instance, in the UK, Bellew and Kay (2003) investigated whether poor communications or reactive grief was significant in determining parent’s reaction. The study revealed that parents were upset, angry, shock, confused, helpless, disbelieved and protective when they received news of their children being diagnosed with OBPI. Another study carried out in Australia by McLean, Haverly, Pallant, Bartlett and Mutimer (2004), revealed that 19% of the mothers reported poor adjustment to having a child with an OBPI. However, the study also revealed that mother’s stress and adjustment were moderated by their optimism (Beck, 2004). It is worth noting that the theoretical framework was not discussed in the findings. According to the researcher, the fact that most of the sample consisted of white, well-educated women limited the result of the study. This is because the transfer ability of the results may be limited to this sample profile. The researcher recommends a further qualitative research to discover the basic social-psychological problem that mothers of children with an OBPI experience and the process that they use to cope with or resolve this basic problem. The paper is a good paper that offers a lot of critical knowledge to the reader. From the structure to the content, the study is a great deal and hence does not offer any confusion to the reader. References Beck C.T (2009).There is no escaping the reality for Mothers of Children with Obstetric Brachial Plexus injuries: School of Nursing, University of Connecticut. New York Bellew, M., & Kay, S.P (2003). Early parental experiences of obstetric brachial plexus palsy. Journal of Hand Surgey, 28 (4), 339-346. McLean, L.A., Harvey, D.H.P., Pallant, J.F., Bartlett, J.R., & Mutimer, K.L.A (2004). Adjustment of mothers of children with obstetric brachial plexus injuries: Testing a risk and resistance model. Rehabilitation Psychology, 49 (3), 233-240. Read More