• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.224-239
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• 2000

This descriptive study was conducted to understand the contents and degree of parental stress level in the NICU patients, and to give a baseline data in developing nursing intervention program. Subjects were the 62 mother of hospitalized newborn in NICU of 1 University Hospital in Taejon City from May 1st, 1999 to November 30th, 1999, who agreed to take part in this study. The instrument used in this study were Parental Stressor Scales : NICU(PSS:NICU) developed by Miles et al. and validated by 3 NICU practitioners and 3 child health nursing faculties. The questionnaire has 4 dimensions and 45 items; sight and sounds of NICU(5 items), babies' appearance and behavior(19 items), parental role alteration and relationship with their baby(10 items), communication with health team(11 items). The questionnaire asks parents to rate each item on a five-point Likert type scale that ranges from (1) to (5). Total scores representing overall stress from the NICU environment are calculated by summing response to each item. A high score indicates high stress. A subscale score is calculated by summing the responses to each item in the subscale. Cronbach's α coefficients were .93. The data was analyzed as average, Frequency, Standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient by use of SPSS/PC+. The results of this study is summarized as follows ; 1. The total perceived stress level score of mothers was slightly high(3.6±.7). The highest scored dimension was 'appearance and behavior of the baby'(3.9±1.5), and next were 'relationship with their baby and parental role change'(3.5±1.4), 'communication with health team'(3.4±.9), 'sight and sounds of NICU'(3.2±.8). 2. Two variables were statistically significant with PSS:NICU total scale ; mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition (r=.482, P=.002) and mother's religious attendance(t=2.83, P=.01). The more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe, the higher the total stress score. There were high stress score noted in the mother of no religious attendance. 3. Four variables were statistically significant with NICU environment subscale ; mother's educational background(F=3.45, P=.04), religious attendance(t=2.28, P=.04), sex of the baby(t=2.83, P=.01) and NICU patients' hospital day(r=.359, P=.004). That is mother with high educational background and girl baby were high NICU environment subscale score. 4. Four variables were statistically significant with appearance and behavior of the baby subscale ; when first saw baby(F=3.52, P=.04), incubator care(t=2.83, P=.01), mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition(r=.303, P=.017), number of NICU visit(r=.441, P=.002). That is, seeing the baby first in the NICU and recieved incubator care was very stressful. Also, the more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe and more NICU visit, the higher the appearance and behavior of the baby subscale stress score. 5. Four variables were statistically significant with relationship with their baby and parental role change subscale ; when first saw baby(F=3.37, P=.04), sex of the baby(t=2.36, P=.03), incubator care(t=5.60, P=.00), mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition(r=.401, P=.001). That is, seeing the baby first in the NICU and girl baby was very stressful. Also, the more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe, the higher the relationship with their baby and parental role change subscale stress score. 6. Three variables were statistically significant with communication with health team subscale ; mother's educational background (F=3.63, P=.04), incubator care(t=4.24, P=.00), gestational age(r=-.394, P=.047), and birth weight(r=-.460, P=.004). That is, mother with high educational background and receiving incubator care were high communication with health team subscale score. Also, the shorter the gestational age and smaller the baby's birth weight, the higher the communication with health team subscale score. In conclusion, information about physical environment of NICU, the mother's perceived severity of baby's illness state, maternal role change related variables and the knowledge of characteristics of NICU patients must be included in nursing intervention program of mother's of NICU patients in reducing the maternal stress and anxiety level.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.5-12
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to explore the maternal caretaking behaviors during the first 3 days postpartum. The sample consisted of 132 healthy, married women and their baby was full-term & normal also. Data were collected from April to June 1995 and analyzed using SPSS. The results of this study are as follows : 1. Primiparous mothers feel difficulty in performance of caretaking behavior for their baby was especially bathing, umblical cord care, identify the crying & baby's condition. But mothers feel doing so well was diaper change, clothing, immunization etc. 2. The results revealed that caretaking behaviors was not related to age, education & family. After the birth of a baby, the baby needs caring of parents especially mother. So, the mother feel difficulty in performance of maternal role. It means higher educational need for mother. Nurses were the primary source for caretaking behavior during early postpartum period at hospital and home also. Therefore the nurse need the strategies of nursing intervention to increase for caretaking activites of primiparous mothers. Further research is needed to determine which strategies affect the mother's competence of their caretaking behavior.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.865-878
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• 1999

With advances in neonatal medicine, smaller and sicker infants are surviving premature birth. As these tiny patients battle for their lives, their parents also struggle with psychological consequences of an unexpected role. The birth of a sick infants has long been documented as stressful events for the parents. High stress levels may alter parents' interaction with their baby and impair their communication with health professionals, which can in turn affect parents' participation in care planning and decision making. Nursing interventions aimed at reducing the parental stress and anxiety levels during this crisis may have a positive impact on their ability to form an attatchment to their baby and make prudent decisions about his care. The planning of such interventions would be inhanced if the contributions of various factors to increased parental stress levels were identified. This descriptive study was conducted to understand the contents and degree of parental stress in the NICU during their premature's hospitalization, and to give a baseline data in developing nursing intervention program. Subjects were the 60 mother of hospitalized newborn in NICU of 2 University Hospital in Taejon City from April 1st, 1999 to June 30th, 1999, who agreed to take part in this study. The instrument used in this study were Parental Stressor Scales:NICU(PSS:NICU) developed by Miles et al.. and validated by 3 NICU practitioners and 3 child health nursing faculties. The questionnaire has 4 dimensions and 45 items; sight and sounds of NICU(5 items), babies' appearance and behavior nursing intervention(19 items), parental role alteration and relationship with their baby(10 items), health team communication(11 items). The questionnaire asks parents to rate each item on a five-point Likert type scale that ranges from "not stressful" (1) to "extremely stressfu1"(5). Total scores representing overall stress from the NICU environment are calculated by summing response to each item. A high score indicates high stress. A subscale score is calculated by summing the responses to each item in the subscale. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficients were .93. The data was analyzed as average, Frequency, Standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient by use of SPSS/PC+. The results of this study is summarized as follows ; 1. The total perceived stress level score of mothers of premature baby was slightly high($3.66{\pm}1.1$). The highest scored dimension was 'relationship with their baby and parental role change'($4.21{\pm}0.9$), and next were 'appearance and behavior of the baby'($3.92{\pm}1.1$), 'communication with health team'($3.32{\pm}1.3$), 'sight and sounds of NICU'($3.30{\pm}1.1$). 2. There were statistically significant correlation noted ; mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition(F=8.0012, P= .0125) and baby's gestational age(r = -.4724, P = .0500). In summary, information about physical environment of NICU, the mother's perceived severity of premature baby's state, maternal role change related variables and the knowledge of characteristics of premature baby must be included in nursing intervention program of mother's of premature baby in reducing the parental stress and anxiety level. It is suggested that each NICU needs to develop a nurse managed supportive care program for parents of premature baby. Also, it is suggested that there need to investigate the coping mechanism of mother of premature baby.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.757-766
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• 1994

The survey was conducted to investigate several factors affecting the disease outcome with 116 infants aged 10 to 24 months residing in Kunsan city, Cheonbuk province . General characteristics, weaning practice , nutrient intake and the actual state for affecting disease were studied. Among many factors, mother's educational status was found to be the most influencing factor for affecting the disease outcome analyzed by oneway ANOVA. The exposure index disease, cold and diarrrhea, against mother's education were analyzed to find out the major factors for disease outcome. The education group up to middle school graduates, mother's job , nutrients supplements, feeding method, sex of baby were the factors, for the high school graduates, job , nutrients supplements were the causes, and the group graduated from the college the above grade mother's health state was the most important factor for the baby exposing to the disease. The disease outcome decreased when the bottle feeding was replaced by breast feeding, sufficient nutrients supplementation was recommended , and health care for mother during pregnancy was strongly advised.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.224-230
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate infant temperament and mother-infant attachment of breast-feeding mothers with a $5{\sim}7$ month old infant. Methods: This study was descriptive research. The subjects were 258 infants and their mothers participating in 'Year 2007 Healthy Breastfed Baby Contest' on September 5, 2007 and visiting a community health service center from September 1 to December 30 in 2007, The data was gathered by structured questionnaires about the 'maternal attachment inventory (MAI)' and 'what my baby is like (WBL)'. Results: The mean score of WBL was 6.75 and that of MAI was 3.88. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the score of infant temperament and mother-infant attachment (r = .33, p < .01). Conclusion: Breast-feeding mothers perceived infant's temperament as more positive, therefore, breast-feeding should be encouraged.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.84-102
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• 1998

In this study the levels and influencing characteristics of maternal identity and self confidence for caring the baby were identified during the immediate postpartum period. 114 primiparous women who delivered vaginally normal baby participated in the survey from August 1 to October 31, 1996. SD scale was to measure maternal identity which consisted of 11 items for mother and 6 items for baby. Likert scale was to measure self confidence for caring the baby (38 items). Cronbach's alphas for evaluating internal consistency as follows : .86 for maternal identity and .96 for self confidence scale for caring the baby. The study showed these results : 1. Mean score of maternal identity(82.03 : 52.65 for mother, 29.38 for baby) was considered relatively low. 2. Mean score of self confidence for caring the baby(113.91) was considered relatively low. 3. There were significant influencing characteristics of primiparous to maternal identity : age(total ; F=3.53, p=.0329, for mother ; F=2.60, p=.0719, for baby ; F=3.12, p=.0481), prenatal infant care preparation(total ; t=2.31, p=.0306, for mother ; F=2.62, p=.0160), knowledge about infant care during the hospitalization(for baby ; F=3.94, p=.02222), colostrum feeding(total ; t=1.95, p=.0541, for baby ; t=2.71, p=.0080), frequency of breast feeding during the hospitalization(for baby ; F=3.91, p=.0228)and feeding type after discharge(for baby ; F=3.18, p=.0456). 4. There were significant influencing characteristics of primiparous to self confidence for caring the baby : routine husband support(F=6.09, p=.0031), prenatal infant care preparation(t=2.04, p=.0574), knowledge about infant care during the hospitalization(F=3.15, p=.0467), education of breast feeding during the hospitalization(t=-1.79, p=.0850). 5. Correlation between maternal identity and self confidence for caring the baby was r=.37608(p=.0001). This study implies that special education programs for primipara are needed. For the future, this study suggest that maternal role variables need to be monitored through the home visiting follow up. Also intervention programs related to prenatal care, discharge education, home visiting follow up need to be developed and then evaluated their effectiveness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2011

As the public is already aware, baby food has a significant effect on a baby's physical and mental health. It is also very important because choice of baby food forms proper eating habits, which will affect health in the future. In particular, recognition of appropriate baby food by the mother or the primary care provider is even more important. Although many studies have been conducted on this matter for domestic housewives, no studies have been conducted on married immigrant housewives whose numbers are increasing every year. A survey was conducted on the recognition and current situation of baby food preparation by mothers living in Gangwon Province with children 6 to 36-months-old. The purpose of the study was to research the level of understanding of baby food by immigrant housewives given that they were raised in different environments with different eating habits and child raising norms. And additional purpose was to provide proper educational material and direction for choosing appropriate baby food. The results showed significant differences depending on the nationality and age of the mother. Moreover, the results showed an insufficient understanding of baby food but a high desire for education, as mothers did not receive enough support from society. Therefore, necessary education should be provided systematically after mothers fully learn to communicate in Korean. These mothers need continuous attention and support, so they can settle in this country as wives, daughters-in-law, and mothers. Moreover, the needed professional education should be provided so that the mothers can learn traditional Korean eating habits and understand differences in the culture and environment between countries. As the selection of baby food forms the basis of future eating habits and the foundation for good health, proper education should be available to establish healthy intercultural families.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.251-257
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• 1984

Low birth weight baby, defined as the baby born with less than or equal to 2,500g of body weight by WHO has been a great concern in the fold of maternal and child health since the low birth weight is a major cause of high perinatal mortality. Any measure to prevent the low birth weight baby is most desirable not only for saving the life of a baby but also for levelling up the health of the whole society. The authors attempted to figure out how some known maternal risk factors are related to the low birth weight and to measure their strengh of associations in terms of relative risk using hospital birth records. For this study, hospital birth records of 66 low birth weight cases and sex-parity matched 198 normal controls were chosen from Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic Medical Center, and the data were analyzed in regards to several maternal factors. The risk factors studied were mother's age, mother's ABO blood type, previous histories of abortion, low birth weight baby, fetal wastage, and maternal diseases represented by anemia, hypertension, proteinuria, and glucosuria. The results obtained in this study were as follows: 1. The mean body weight of the cases and controls were 1,955g and 3,251g, respectively, and the heights were 41cm for cases and 50cm for controls. Mean gestation periods of cases and controls were 34 weeks and 39 weeks, respectively. 2. Young mother(less than or equal to 20 years of age) or old mother(more than or equal to 30 years of age) experienced more frequently the delivery of low birth weight babies than mothers in between 21 and 29 years of age. But the difference was not statistically significant. 3. Mothers whose blood type was O tended to have slighty higher frequency of low birth weight babies while B mothers have lower frequency. But the difference was not statistically significant too. 4. Those mothers who had experienced low birth weight baby in the past tended to give more births of low birth weight babies. This factor is even statistically significant and the relative risk of the prior experience of low birth weight was 6.7. 5. Mothers with experience of fetal losses and mothers of more than two pregnancies had higher frequency of low birth weight than the mothers with no fatal losses and of first pregnancy, but the difference was not statistically significant. 6. Statistically significant higher frequency of low birth weight were found in mothers with hypertension(odds ratio=4.07), anemia(odds ratio=22,33), and proteinuria(odds ratio=2.79). In summary, these study results strongly suggest that in order to prevent the low birth weight, special care should be made when the mother is too young or too old, and when the mother has experienced deliveries of low birth weight and fetal deaths. Medical control for the maternal diseases such as anemia and hypertension is also needed before or during the pregnency.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.60-72
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• 2000

Studies are needed to determine the standard norms for sleep/activity patterns in new born baby and there have been no established reports of discrepancy of sleep/activity patterns in new born baby among various races. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the NCASA(Nursing Child Assessment Sleep Activity Record) would be suitable to evaluate and to provide the basic resources for a Korean model of sleep/activity patterns during the new born baby, and to provide a basis for nursing intervention for mothers of new born baby. The subjects of this study were 38 normal new born baby who visited the postpartum care center and two general hospitals located in pusan from January 1 to April 28, 2000. They all agreed to participate in this study. The method of data collection was through convenient sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires including demographic data, birth hi story, and general informations concerning the infant, mother and family. The instrument of this study was the NCASA translated by the Korean parent Child Health Academic Association. The collected data were analysed by mean. standard deviation, frequency, and percentage by use of SPSS/PC. The conclusions obtained from this study are summarized as follows: 1. The mean amount of daytime sleep was 10.23 hours. The mean amount of nighttime sleep was 5.53 hours. The mean amount of total daily sleep was 15.77 hours. The mean of the longest sleep period was 4.49 hours. The mean regularity of daytime sleep was 49.69%. The mean regularity of nighttime sleep was 66.98%. The mean regularity of total daily sleep was 55.81%. The mean frequency of nighttime wakenings was 3.09 times. 2. The mean amount of daytime awake periods was 6.12 hours. The mean amount of nighttime awake periods was 2.11 hours. The mean amount of daily total awake periods was 8.23 hours. The mean of the longest awake periods was 3.76 hours. 3. The mean frequency of daytime feeding was 5.71 times. The mean frequency of nighttime feeding was 2.65 times. The mean frequency of total daily feeding was 8.36 times. The mean frequency regularity of feeding was 62.50%. 4. The mean amount of a mother's day time was 16.36 hours. The mean amount of a mother's night time was 7.64 hours. In conclusion, The new born baby slept more during the daytime compare than nighttime and more active during the daytime. On the other hand. although nighttime sleeping the length of the mother was normal, but sleep was interrupted by the infant over 3 times on average. Therefore this research study will contribute to nursing practice and nursing research by its implication through postnatal educational nursing programs at hospital and nursing intervention programs that would help individual caring of early infant mothers at home.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.101-113
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• 1994

Maternity means all the women who are capable to conceive. In the aspect of health and medical care. however. it means the women who are now in pregnancy or have already given birth to a baby or are in a period of being recoverd from physiological changes occurred by pregnancy. According to the rapidly changing social structure. both the Quality and Quantity of the capacity of childbirth experienced by women are changing. Our society. having established a great economical growth by virtue of the highly developing and growing industrialization and urbanization. stimulates the women's advance into society and thereby increasing the number of employed women. When the women's participation in society is increased. their age of marriage is also affected. Which means there are a decrease of the capacity of childbirth in terms of quantity and a trend for women to have less children and to deliver a baby in their old age in terms of quality. On the contrary. since the number of multipara who want to have a baby in their old age is increasing. as a counter functional effect to the political project of decrease of a birth rate. concern has been focussed on childbirth in old age in the present study. And also such kind of the childbirth may be danger to the health of both mother and baby. Therefore the present study intended to provide some basic data of health education in the part of the health management of both mother and baby in the general hospital. based on understanding the realities of childbirth in. old age and things related to them. To achieve such a purpose of the present study. an analytical study by means of SPSS. was done using the data of 269 clinical records on both the newborn .babies and their mothers who had been supported by public general hospitals located in Seoul for 3 years from Jan. 1. 1991 to Dec. 31. 1993. Some significant results from the analytic study are as follows: 1. It appeared that the average age of normal. natural delivery was 33.8 years old and the average age of delivery through the cesarean operation was 35.4 years old. 2. It appeared that danger factors to childbirth women were types of the delivery and placental extrusion and danger factors to newborn babies are not so outstanding. 3. It appeared that the variables of the childbirth capacity which showed a significant difference according to each age group of women were the number of pregnancy. number of still birth, and number of existing children. That is. the age group of 'more than 35 years' had more frequency of experience In all 3 variables than the age group of 'less than 35 years'. 4. It appeared that the variables of the childbrith capacity which showed a significant difference a according to the sex of a newborn baby were number of pregnancy, number of still birth, and number of existing children. That is, the age group of 'more than 35 years' had more frequency of experience in all 3 variables than the age group of 'less than 35 years'. 5. It appeared that the health index of newborn babies which showed a significant difference was only 5 minute APGAR. That is, the health index 9.46 in the age group of 'more than 35 years' was less than an index of 9.72 in the age group of 'less than 35 years'. 6. Since a counter correlation of -0.10, as Pearson Correlation Coefficient, was showed between the age of childbirth mothers and the weight of newborn babies, it indicated that the higher age of childbirth woman, the lesser the weight of newborn baby. 7. It appeared that the number of women who had confirmed the sex of their baby before their delivery were 45 women, $67.2\%$ of total 67 women who had delivered a baby. and the expected sex by women in childbed was male with $73.1\%$ of total childbirth women expecting male birth and with their expression of feeling of female delivery. very regretful' by $39.3\%$ of total childbirth women. The results as shown above may indicate that instead of the possibility of danger to both the mother delivering a baby in old age and the baby delivered, the expectation of getting a son motivates childbirth in old age. As a conclusion, in a dimension of general hospital as well as national reform. it is required that a program of health education for childbirth in late maternal age have to be developed in the part of the health management of both mother and baby in the near future.