Evaluation of a Designated Family Bonding Time to Decrease Interruptions and Increase Exclusive Breastfeeding.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to plan and implement a daily family bonding time on our mother/baby care unit and evaluate its effect on interruptions, mothers' perceptions of interruptions, and exclusive breastfeeding rates. DESIGN: A separate sample pre-/postintervention design conducted in three phases. SETTING/LOCAL PROBLEM: Healthy breastfeeding newborns had double the odds of receiving supplementation before discharge if they stayed more than 1 night or were born at night. Night nurses suggested implementing a daily quiet time as a strategy for limiting interruptions. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 60 postpartum women. INTERVENTION/MEASURES: During Phases 1 and 3, data were collected on interruptions (number, duration, and by whom), women's perceptions of interruptions, and exclusive breastfeeding rates. Family bonding time was launched in Phase 2 during the hours of 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Women were encouraged to rest with their newborns in their rooms; interruptions were limited to those that were urgent, medically necessary, or requested by the women. RESULTS: Outcome data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a repeated-measures analysis of variance, t test, and chi-square test. Analysis of interruptions by the unit nursing staff indicated a decrease in interruptions between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. that could be attributed to family bonding time (F(1, 58) = 7.50, p = .008). Analysis of interruptions by other hospital staff and visitors indicated a significant interaction of time with interruptions; interruptions decreased in both phases between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. (F(3, 174) = 4.83, p = .0029; F(3, 174) = 2.95, p = .034). Exclusive breastfeeding rates increased significantly (χ2(4) = 21.27, p = .0003); there were no significant differences in women's perceptions of interruptions. CONCLUSION: New mothers experience many interruptions during their hospital stays, particularly when visitors arrive in large groups and stay more than 60 minutes. Documenting sources of interruptions before launching family bonding time helps identify hospital staff who need to be informed. Addressing their concerns before implementation can facilitate project sustainability.

The electromagnetic basis of social interactions.

It has been established that living things are sensitive to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields at vanishingly small intensities, on the order of tens of nT. We hypothesize, as a consequence of this sensitivity, that some fraction of an individual's central nervous system activity can be magnetically detected by nearby individuals. Even if we restrict the information content of such processes to merely simple magnetic cues that are unconsciously received by individuals undergoing close-knit continuing exposure to these cues, it is likely that they will tend to associate these cues with the transmitting individual, no less than would occur if such signals were visual or auditory. Furthermore, following what happens when one experiences prolonged exposure to visual and like sensory inputs, it can be anticipated that such association occurring magnetically will eventually also enable the receiving individual to bond to the transmitting individual. One can readily extrapolate from single individuals to groups, finding reasonable explanations for group behavior in a number of social situations, including those occurring in families, animal packs, gatherings as found in concerts, movie theaters and sports arenas, riots and selected predatory/prey situations. The argument developed here not only is consistent with the notion of a magnetic sense in humans, but also provides a new approach to electromagnetic hypersensitivity, suggesting that it may simply result from sensory overload.

Children's Bonding with Parents and Grandparents and Its Associated Factors.

Previous literature has focused on the importance of both parental and grandparental bonding. However, few studies have been conducted to measure children's bonding with parents and grandparents simultaneously, especially tested by the same instrument that offers more comparable results. Therefore, we studied the relationships between parental and grandparental bonding using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and possible associations between these bonds and sociodemographic variables in 905 Chinese children aged 10-14 years. Children's bonding with mother, father, and grandparents were positively correlated, and the final mixed-effect model showed that several sociodemographic factors (e.g., gender, only children, parents' marital status, and mother's occupation) were associated with parental and grandparental bonding.

Effect of adverse childhood experiences on physical health in adulthood: Results of a study conducted in Baghdad city.

BACKGROUND: Studies have revealed a powerful relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and physical and mental health in adulthood. Literature documents the conversion of traumatic emotional experiences in childhood into organic disease later in life. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to estimate the effect of childhood experiences on the physical health of adults in Baghdad city. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2013 to January 2014. The study sample was drawn from Baghdad city. Multistage sampling techniques were used in choosing 13 primary health care centers and eight colleges of three universities in Baghdad. In addition, teachers of seven primary schools and two secondary schools were chosen by a convenient method. Childhood experiences were measured by applying a modified standardized ACEs-International Questionnaire form and with questions for bonding to family and parental monitoring. Physical health assessment was measured by a modified questionnaire derived from Health Appraisal Questionnaire of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The questionnaire includes questions on cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, tumor, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. RESULTS: Logistic regression model showed that a higher level of bonding to family (fourth quartile) is expected to reduce the risk of chronic physical diseases by almost the half (odds ratio = 0.57) and exposure to a high level of household dysfunction and abuse (fourth quartile) is expected to increase the risk of chronic physical diseases by 81%. CONCLUSION: Childhood experiences play a major role in the determination of health outcomes in adulthood, and early prevention of ACEs. Encouraging strong family bonding can promote physical health in later life.

The Effect of Family Meals on the Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Children

This study analyzed the effect of family meals on the psychological problems of children. We performed focus group interviews (FGI) on the basic characteristics of family meals, and chose several scales (such as Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), self-esteem, and a daily hassles questionnaire), to measure the psychological variables. We collected data from 442 dyads (mother-child) and used 440 from dyads. In our results, the frequency of family meals affected the psychological problems of children, especially aggression and emotional instability. The atmosphere during meals also affected depression/anxiety, concentration difficulties, emotional instability, self-esteem, peer relationships, and sociality. There were significant correlations between meal atmosphere, family bonding, maternal personality, and psychological problems of children. We performed covariation analysis to examine and control the influence of family bonding and maternal personality; despite controlling for these variables, family meals still influenced children's psychological problems. We conclude that the family meal is a significant variable that impacts the emotional and behavioral problems of children and stress the importance of frequent family meals.