Parenting Itis Types and Nursing Role

Nursing Role In Different Parenting

What is Parenting,Parenting and Nursing Role,Nursing Research and Parenting,New Born Adjustment and Parenting,High Risk Infant Parenting or Premature Infant Parenting,Ill Child Parenting,Nursing Research and Parenting of Ill Child,Parenting of Normal Healthy Preschool Child,Problematic Parenting,Nursing Research Framework,Other Theories in Parenting Nursing Research,Nature of Nursing Research.

What is Parenting

     Parenting is a process that involves a complex set of responsibilities, including being present for the child; caring, teaching, protecting, and encouraging the child; and advocating on behalf of the child. 

    These responsibilities evolve over time as the child and parent mature and change in response to environmental contexts and any special needs of the child.

Parenting and Nursing Role

     Parenting is a major focus of nursing research. Currently three nursing diagnoses relate to parenting: altered parenting, parental role conflict, and altered parent-infant attachment (Sparks, 1995). 

    The diagnosis of altered parenting involves at risk or problematic parenting. Parental role conflict involves the changes in parenting that occur when a child is ill, such as providing illness-related care, comforting the child, and stimulating the child's growth and development. 

    Altered parent-infant attachment is an interference with the development of appropriate parental relationship.

 Nursing Research and Parenting 

    An identifiable group of nurse researchers who study parents and parenting has emerged (Beeber & Miles, 2003; Faux, 1998; Holditch-Davis & Miles, 1997; Hoyer, 1998; McBride & Shore, 2001; Mercer, 1995; Miles, 2003). 

    Like parenting researchers from other disciplines, nurse researchers agree that parenting plays a critical role in child development. However, the other side of parenting-its effects on the lives of adults-has received relatively little attention (McBride & Shore). 

    The substantive focus of nursing research on parenting includes parenting during the transition to parenthood, parenting of high-risk infants, parental responses to children's acute and chronic illnesses, parenting of healthy children, and problematic parenting.

New Born Adjustment and Parenting 

    Parenting during the transition to parenthood has probably received the most attention from nurse researchers (Mercer, 1995). Areas of research include maternal identity and competence, adjustments to parenting a newborn, parent infant interactions, and the effects of stressors such as older maternal age, infertility, or a high-risk pregnancy. 

    Fathers are beginning to be studied. Researchers have also studied the development of the parental identity during pregnancy, maternal-fetal attachment, and the emotional tasks of preg nancy.

High Risk Infant Parenting or Premature Infant Parenting

    A related area of research focuses on parenting high-risk infants, including infants who are premature, technologically dependent, prenatally exposed to substances, multiple births, or temperamentally difficult. 

    A number of descriptive studies have explored the emotional distress and sources of stress of parents during the infant's neonatal intensive care hospitalization (Holditch-Davis & Miles, 1997). Of particular concern is the impact of parental distress and parent-infant separation on subsequent parent-child interactions and attachment. 

    Parental influences. on development of high-risk infants have also been identified through longitudinal studies. Recently, nurse researchers have tested a number of intervention studies for this population, including support programs in the intensive care unit and home visiting programs (Kearney, York, & Deatrick, 2000).

Ill Child Parenting 

    Another focus of nursing research has been on parents of ill children. Although much of this research has been focused on the family, parents are the most important element of family responses (Faux, 1998). 

    Studies of parents of children with chronic illnesses or developmental disabilities have focused on the impact of the child's diagnosis, stressors associated with treatments and repeated hospitalizations, and parental management of the illness (Miles, 2003).

    Similarly, researchers have focused on the experiences of parents of acutely ill children, exploring parentalemotional responses, participation in care, and stress during hospitalization (Youngblut, 1998). 

    Recently, a few studies have moved beyond physical illnesses and have begun to explore the effect of child psychiatric conditions, such as attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, and schizophrenia, on parenting. 

    A small but important body of descriptive research about parents' relationships with nurses and other health care providers demonstrates the powerful role nurses have in affecting parental responses and maintaining the parental role, especially during acute illnesses.

Nursing Research and Parenting of Ill Child 

    Studies of parents of ill children have largely been limited to descriptive, cross-sectional studies done with small convenience samples from one institution. Very few are longitudinal even within the period of hospitalization. 

    More research is needed to explore the nature of the interaction of health care providers and parents and how to strengthen those interactions. More research on the influence of parenting on health and developmental outcomes in ill children is also needed.

Parenting of Normal Healthy Preschool Child

    Nurse researchers have also studied parenting of normal, healthy children. Preschool children have been studied the most, with less attention to parenting the school-aged, adolescent, and young adult child. 

    Much of this research has looked at parental perceptions of the child or parental effects on child outcomes, such as obesity or substance abuse, rather than parenting. However, discipline as an aspect of parenting has received attention. 

    This research has examined the effects of maternal employment, supports for parenting, and issues involved in parenting by grandparents, parenting after divorce, parenting during maternal chronic illness, or parenting after the death of a spouse. In addition, nurse researchers have begun to study ethnic differences in parenting.”

Problematic Parenting 

    Problematic parenting has been another focus of nursing research. Studies have examined the impact of maternal mental health problems or substance abuse on parenting and parents who are abusive to their children. 

    Another important aspect of problematic parenting has focused on parenting by low-income parents (Beeber & Miles, 2003), but the area receiving the most attention from nurse researchers has been adolescent parenting (Hoyer, 1998). 

    Although a number of intervention studies has been conducted to improve parenting in these at risk groups (Kearney et al., 2000), many of the interventions were a theoretical. More theoretically based intervention studies aimed at improving parenting and removing situational or environmental obstacles to positive parenting are needed.

Nursing Research Framework

    The theoretical models used as frameworks for nursing research on parenting have been as diverse as the substantive foci. Researchers interested in the transition to parenthood often build on the concepts put forth by Rubin based on role-attainment theory from sociology and adapted by Ramona Mercer and Lorraine Walker. 

    Another commonly used framework is ecological-systems theory, influenced by the work of Uri Bronfenbrenner, Jay Belsky, and Arnold Sameroff, and based on psychology. Within nursing, Kathryn Barnard's theory follows in this tradition.

Other Theories in Parenting Nursing Research 

    Other theories used in parenting research by nurses include attachment, cognitive, and stress theories. Attachment theory has its origins in ethology and is influenced by the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. This framework is widely used in infancy and pre-school parenting research. 

    Cognitively based theories of parenting, such as that developed by Karen Pridham, are used in studies of mothering during the prenatal and postpartum periods. Finally, stress models, influenced by Richard Lazarus and Hans Selye, have been used in studies of the impact of acute illness on parents.

Nature of Nursing Research 

    Despite this theoretical diversity, much of the nursing research conducted in the area of parenting remains atheoretical and highly descriptive. Therefore, the findings in this area of research are generally fragmented, and often nurse researchers are not building a coherent science on parenting. 

    The major gaps in the parenting literature in nursing include a need for more information about fathering and about parenting of adolescents and young adults. There is also a need for research that examines parenting from a cultural perspective. 

    Nursing researchers need to go beyond comparing ethnic groups and move toward understanding what is effective and adaptive for parents from varying ethnic backgrounds. Likewise, nurse researchers need to conduct more longitudinal studies that study parenting as a process that unfolds over time.