Improving interactions between substance abusing mothers and their substance-exposed newborns.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether teaching comforting and interacting techniques within 24 hours of delivery to substance-abusing mothers will improve mother-infant interactions 48-72 hours after discharge.


METHODS
An experimental three-group, random assignment, pretest-posttest design.


METHODS
Mothers attending a clinic serving a mostly indigent population.


METHODS
Eighty-three women whose urine was positive for drug use were invited to participate. Sixty mother-newborn couplets completed the study.


METHODS
Two observers, blind to the mothers' drug history, completed the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS) of all participants within 24 hours of delivery. Mothers in the experimental group were given the intervention. The observers completed the NCAFS in the mothers' homes 48-72 hours after discharge.


RESULTS
At the home visit, couplets in the treatment group showed significant improvement in their total NCAFS score (F = 5.18; p = .008). When analyzed separately, only maternal scores showed a significant difference between the treatment and control groups at the home visit (F = 6.48; p = .0029).


CONCLUSIONS
Nurses, by demonstrating caregiving behavior, can help mothers recognize and respond to newborns' behavioral cues, thus enhancing mother-newborn interactions.
French
E D
ED
Lourdes College, Sylvania, OH, USA.
Pituch
M
M
Brandt
J
J
Pohorecki
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000451:nursing; D009357:Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome / Q000451:nursing*; D009820:Ohio; D016487:Parenting; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000451:nursing*