Introduction
The Advances in Neonatal Care journal is an excellent source for placing the abstract. It is a peer-reviewed periodical that specializes in practices regarding newborns and their parents (Advances in Neonatal Care, 2016, par. 1). The journal accepts materials that are thoroughly reviewed and provide grounded theories supported with literature abstracts. It publishes works based on real cases, which helps to provide readers with an overview of the current situation in the healthcare industry. The project Supporting Parental Contact with Newborns with Disabilities will be an excellent piece of information for this periodical.
The guidelines for authors wishing to submit an article are very extensive and informative. There is the requirement to submit a title page along with the material. The guidelines for an abstract are very specific. The abstract has to be no more than 250 words and requires the outline structure that should contain a problem’s background, the purpose of the study, methodology, results, and implications for practice and research.
Abstract
The abstract below is written in compliance with the journal’s guidelines.
- Project title: Supporting Parental Contact with Newborns with Disabilities
- Problem statement: Many parents experience difficulties when they are first introduced to their newborn child. The issue is especially pressuring among the parents of infants with disabilities. Mothers do not understand how to take care of such children. The problem also has a psychological side since families find it hard to develop contact with newborns who have disabilities. Nurses can use their skills to advise families on these matters.
- The purpose of this study is to compare various practices implemented by nurses in neonatal centers across the country regarding this issue. The aim is to find the best nursing solutions which would bring the best results for parent-infant contact development.
- Question: Does time spent on nursing advisory sessions for parents of newborns with disabilities improve their contact development?
- Hypothesis: The amount of time devoted by families to the nursing consultations has a direct relation to the positive impact regarding their contact with the newborn.
- Methodology: The research uses the mixed-method approach. Nurses from the leading neonatal and pediatric hospitals are interviewed on their conversational techniques with parents of newborn children with disabilities. There is also a confidential survey of the parents who consulted with nurses regarding their approach to these children. The results of the two groups are then formed in a slope diagram picturing the level of confidence gained by the parents who had consulted nurses.
- Implementation steps: 500 nurses from Chicago, Florida, and New York clinics have been interviewed on the subject. 42 families attending some of these nurses agreed to be surveyed on their progress. Their information was further supported by the amount of time spent on the advisory sessions, the marital status, the number of children, and the average income.
- Results: The results of this study show that 72% of parents who consulted with nurses in the first month after their child had been born tend to develop a strong connection to their child faster than those who did not have any of such sessions. Positive future perspectives and everyday happy moments were among the most influential points emphasized by nurses. 68% of nurses have directly linked the success of parental contact with a child to the amount of time they spent on consultations.
- Conclusion: The hypothesis proved to be correct, as most families devoting a lot of time to consultations with nurses showed greater progress in parent-child contact than the others.
Impact on the Nursing Career
The project emphasizes the importance of advisory sessions offered by nurses to ensure parent-infant contact. Various studies give evidence that this contact is hard to establish even with healthy children (Flacking et al., 2012). Developing programs for family consultations will improve the quality of life within many households.
References
Advances in Neonatal Care. (2016). Instructions for authors. Web.
Flacking, R., Lehtonen, L., Thomson, G., Axelin, A., Ahlqvist, S., Moran, V. H.,…Dykes, F. (2012). Closeness and separation in neonatal intensive care. Acta Paediatrica, 101(10), 1032-1037.