First-time mothers' and fathers' transition to parenthood: infant care self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and infant sex.

The threefold purposes of our study were to determine differences between first-time mothers' and fathers' development of infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction, relationships between mothers' and fathers' infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction, and the effect of infant sex on the development of mothers' and fathers' infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction during the first 4 months following the infant's birth. A convenience sample of 44 couples in a midwestern state completed the Demographic Questionnaire, the Infant Care Survey, and What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised. Fathers' reports of infant care self-efficacy increased linearly during the first 4 months following the infant's birth while mothers' reports of infant care self-efficacy increased linearly during the first 3 months. At all data collection times, fathers reported significantly lower infant care self-efficacy than mothers. Reports of parenting satisfaction increased over time for mothers and fathers. At 8, 12, and 16 weeks following the infant's birth, mothers' infant care self-efficacy scores were significantly related to their parenting satisfaction scores. Fathers' infant care self-efficacy scores were significantly related to their parenting satisfaction scores at 12 and 16 weeks. Fathers of male infants had significantly higher parenting satisfaction scores than fathers of female infants at 12 and 16 weeks following the infant's birth. Nurses can develop individualized interventions to assist mothers and fathers during the transition to parenthood.

Depression, self-esteem, loneliness, and social support among adolescent mothers participating in the new parents project.

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine levels of depression, self-esteem, loneliness, and social support, and the relationships between these variables, among adolescent mothers participating in the New Parents Project (formerly called the Young Parents Project). The sample consisted of 21 adolescent mothers recruited from three primary health care practices in different Midwestern cities. It was found that depression scores were in the high range (CES-DC > 15) for 53% of the participants. Strong, significant relationships were found, except between depression and self-esteem. The implications for enhancement of the New Parents Project, so as to better meet the psychological needs of adolescent mothers, are discussed.

Young Parents Project: a 21st-century nursing intervention.

The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive pilot study was to describe the usage of the Young Parents Project, a computer network offering health information and support, to adolescent mothers. Nine midwestern adolescent mothers were provided a computer so they could access the Young Parents Project in their homes. Participants gained access to the computer network 834 times for a total of 7,046 minutes during the year of the study. Adolescent mothers read and posted 402 electronic messages to one another and 110 electronic mail messages to advanced practice nurses. The following eight themes emerged when participants' electronic messages were analyzed using content analysis: introductions, emotional support, social support systems, infant sharing, infant issues, postpartum issues, finances and education, and computer support. The adolescent mothers' evaluation of the Young Parents Project was primarily positive, and the project served as a mechanism for providing health information and social support to adolescent mothers.

Expectant parents' experience with fatigue and sleep during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Although both expectant mothers and expectant fathers complain of fatigue during the last trimester of pregnancy, studies have focused exclusively on mothers. This pilot study examined parents' levels of morning or evening fatigue, number of uninterrupted sleep periods and length of sleep during the last trimester of pregnancy; and the relationship of sleep to parents' reports of fatigue. METHODS: Data were collected from 24 midwestern, nulliparous couples, who completed the Visual Analog Scale for Fatigue each morning and each evening on 4 consecutive days during the last trimester. Concurrently, the couples recorded sleep and wake periods in an activity diary. RESULTS: Expectant mothers but not expectant fathers reported increasing levels of fatigue, especially morning fatigue, as the pregnancy progressed. Expectant fathers and mothers did not differ either in the night-time mean number of minutes of sleep obtained, or in the mean number of night-time uninterrupted 90-minute sleep cycles obtained. Fatigue and sleep were not significantly related for either mothers or fathers. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the multidimensional nature of fatigue and indicate a need for perinatal health caregivers to develop individualized interventions for mothers during the last trimester of pregnancy. Fathers should also participate in future research of factors influencing the prenatal and postpartum experience.

Feasibility of altering type A behavior pattern after myocardial infarction. Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project Study: methods, baseline results and preliminary findings.

We studied 1035 consecutive postinfarction patients to determine the feasibility of altering type A behavior and the effect such alteration might have on subsequent rates of infarction and cardiovascular death. Approximately 300 subjects were enrolled in small groups and primarily received cardiologic counseling on the usually accepted coronary risk factors. Six hundred subjects received, in addition to cardiologic counseling, advice and instructions designed to diminish the intensity of their type A behavior. The remaining subjects, serving as controls, received no counseling, but were examined and interviewed annually, as were those who dropped out of counseling groups. More than 98% of the 1035 subjects exhibited moderate-to-severe type A behavior during a videotaped structured interview. After the first year of this 5-year study, the rates of infarction and cardiovascular death were lower (p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.05, respectively) among subjects who received both cardiologic and behavioral counseling than among the control subjects. The rate of nonfatal infarction was lower (p less than 0.05) among subjects who received behavioral counseling than among those who received only cardiologic counseling or those who dropped out of either counseling group. The circumstances that most often preceded recurrent infarction or cardiovascular death were emotional crisis, excess physical activity, ingestion of a single fatty meal or a combination of these phenomena.

Neurogenic hypercholesterolemia: influence of autonomic drugs.

Eleven substances capable of either augmenting or depleting the alpha- and - beta-adrenergic capacities of the autonomic nervous system were administered to rats exhibiting hypothalamic hypercholesterolemia and to normal controls. Only the beta-adrenergic blocking agents propranolol and possibly 6-OH dopamine were observed to alter (raise) the serum cholesterol concentration, and this occurred in both experimental and control animals. Neither atropine, nor the serotonin-depleting agent, rho-chlorophenylalanine, nor the serotonin-antagonist cyproheptadine, were observed to alter serum cholesterol level. Such absence of effect was also noted with metaraminol, phenoxybenzamine, isoproterenol, epinephrine, reserpine, and alpha-methyl tyrosine.

Further studies concerning glucagon-induced hypocholesterolemia.

Some of the possible mechanisms responsible for the hypocholesterolemic effect of glucagon were investigated. Glucagon was found to inhibit the intestinal absorption of cholesterol. In addition, it was found to either hasten the rate of egress of lipoprotein cholesterol from the blood into the liver or to retard the rate of re-entry of cholesterol from the liver into the blood. The data do not distinguish between these two possibilities, which indeed may occur simultaneously.