Are parenting interventions effective in improving the relationship between mothers and their preterm infants?

Aim

To systematically review the efficacy of parenting interventions in improving the quality of the relationship between mothers and preterm infants.

Method

Randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials (RCT) of parenting interventions for mothers of preterm infants where mother–infant relationship quality outcomes were reported. Databases searched: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science.

Results

Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria, 14 with strong methodological quality. Eight parenting interventions were found to improve the quality of the mother–preterm infant relationship.

Conclusions

Heterogeneity of the interventions calls for an integrated new parenting program focusing on cue-based, responsive care from the mother to her preterm infant to improve the quality of the relationship for these mother–preterm infant dyads.     

人类增强技术的伦理考量

人类增强技术作为利用高新技术提高人类机体功能或能力的一种技术干预手段,是对人类身体进行的一种技术上的改变,这必然在“人是什么”、社会公平、安全与自主权等方面引发一定的社会伦理问题。而这正是对“人是目的,而不仅仅是手段”这一绝对律令的违背。由此需要对人类增强技术进行全面的评估,从坚守“增强底线原则”、相关法规的制定和加强伦理审查等方面采取有效对策,预防或减少不良后果的产生。这样才能保证人类增强技术的发展做到有效性与合理性、真理性与价值性、安全性与效益性的完美统一。     

The Causality Distinction,Kenosis, and a Middle Way: Aquinas and Polkinghorne on Divine Action

This article evaluates and considers two important philosophical contributions to the discussion considering divine action in the work of Thomas Aquinas and John Polkinghorne. Aquinas argues that God employs both primary and secondary causality, in that God causes some events directly by divine power and others by means of secondary causes. Polkinghorne argues that this approach makes God the author of evil and opts instead for a “kenotic approach” to divine action, wherein God chooses to “empty” God's self of complete divine control. We think that these views can complement each other and need not represent mutually exclusive alternatives.     

Engaging Environments Enhance Motor Skill Learning in a Computer Gaming Task

Engagement during practice can motivate a learner to practice more, hence having indirect effects on learning through increased practice. However, it is not known whether engagement can also have a direct effect on learning when the amount of practice is held constant. To address this question, 40 participants played a video game that contained an embedded repeated sequence component, under either highly engaging conditions (the game group) or mechanically identical but less engaging conditions (the sterile group). The game environment facilitated retention over a 1-week interval. Specifically, the game group improved in both speed and accuracy for random and repeated trials, suggesting a general motor-related improvement, rather than a specific influence of engagement on implicit sequence learning. These data provide initial evidence that increased engagement during practice has a direct effect on generalized learning, improving retention and transfer of a complex motor skill.     

Protective Factors for Depression Among African American Children of Predominantly Low-Income Mothers with Depression

Maternal depression has a deleterious impact on child psychological outcomes, including depression symptoms. However, there is limited research on the protective factors for these children and even less for African Americans. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of positive parenting skills on child depression and the potential protective effects of social skills and kinship support among African American children whose mothers are depressed and low-income. African American mothers (n = 77) with a past year diagnosis of a depressive disorder and one of their children (ages 8–14) completed self-report measures of positive parenting skills, social skills, kinship support, and depression in a cross-sectional design. Regression analyses demonstrated that there was a significant interaction effect of positive parenting skills and child social skills on child depression symptoms. Specifically, parent report of child social skills was negatively associated with child depression symptoms for children exposed to poorer parenting skills; however, this association was not significant for children exposed to more positive and involved parenting. Kinship support did not show a moderating effect, although greater maternal depression severity was correlated with more child-reported kinship support. The study findings have implications for developing interventions for families with maternal depression. In particular, parenting and child social skills are potential areas for intervention to prevent depression among African American youth.     

The relation between implicit theories of personality and forgiveness

This research examined the effect of implicit theories of personality on interpersonal forgiveness and the mediating mechanism underlying this effect. Two experiments show that incremental personality theorists are less forgiving than entity personality theorists and that this difference can be explained by the incremental theorists’ stronger tendency to appraise the transgressor as responsible for causing the hurtful event. The same findings were obtained regardless of whether forgiveness was measured by self‐report or assessed as responses to anger words in a latency response task.     

Accreditation Standards for University and College Counseling Centers

The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high‐quality services to students.     

Prem Baby Triple P a new parenting intervention for parents of infants born very preterm: acceptability and barriers

Over 10% of preterm infants develop major disabilities, 50% develop behavioural problems and 40% need special education ( [Huddy et al., 2001] and [0185] ). Prem Baby Triple P is a new variant of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) adapted specifically for parents of very preterm infants. The aim of this study is to assess the acceptability of Prem Baby Triple P to parents of infants born preterm and to test whether parental attributions and parental perception of infant health/developmental status are barriers to intervention acceptability. One hundred and twenty-three parents of preterm infants participated, 83 parents of very preterm infants and 40 parents of preterm infants. In addition, 32 parents of term infants participated as a comparison group. The acceptability of Prem Baby Triple P was moderately high and did not differ significantly across the three groups. Parental attributions were not found to be barriers to intervention acceptability and parental perceptions that their infant is less healthy/developmentally delayed facilitated Prem Baby Triple P acceptance in parents of infants born very preterm. This suggests that the planned Prem Baby Triple P content is acceptable to parents of infants born very preterm and sensitised to medical and developmental issues. These findings, as social validation data, will contribute towards the further development of Prem Baby Triple P and a future randomised controlled trial.     

Are Americans Getting Sicker or Healthier?

The rising cost of healthcare causes many injustices, and is not sustainable. Cost inflation is partly caused by the nature of medicine. When doctors save lives, the lives we save are usually people with chronic illnesses. Decreases in the mortality rate often lead to increases in the prevalence rate of chronic diseases and duration of chronic diseases, which are expensive to treat. As a result of advances in medical sciences, more and more people live with chronic illnesses, and therefore healthcare costs are rising. This is consistent with the conclusion that the more money a society like the USA spends on medical care, the more expensive medical care becomes. This is the dark side of medicine, which counterbalances the well-known breakthroughs of medical science. Spiritual people seek a balanced view of health that includes both viewpoints. Jeffrey Boyd, MD MPH MDiv, is Chairman of the Department of Behavioral Health at Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury CT. He is the author of Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness (reviewed in this journal 45:1)     

Perinatal Bereavement Grief Scale: distinguishing grief from depression following miscarriage

The study evaluated the Perinatal Bereavement Grief Scale (PBGS), the first scale designed to measure grieffollowing reproductive loss in terms of yearning for the lost pregnancy and lost baby. Participants included 304 women interviewed by telephone I to 3 times within 6 months aftermiscarriage. The PBGS had high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. It showed convergent validity with measures of attachment and investment in the child and divergent validity against measures of social desirability and depressive symptoms, supporting the conceptual distinction between grief and depression. Cross-cultural validity was acceptable whether tested by language (Spanish vs. English) or ethnicity (Hispanic vs. other). This measure of yearning enables study of the epidemiology and prognostic value of this key feature of mourning.