McKey, A., & Huntington, A. D. (2004). Obesity in pre-school children: Issues and challenges for community based child health nurses. Contemporary Nurse, 18(1-2), 145–151.
Abstract: In this paper, literature related to childhood obesity in New Zealand and internationally is explored to identify current issues, and the implications for nurses in community based child health practice are discussed. Themes that emerged from the literature relate to the measurement of obesity, links between childhood and adult obesity and issues for families. Studies that investigated maternal perceptions of childhood obesity found that mothers identified their child as being overweight or obese only when it imposed limitations on physical activity or when the children were teased rather than by referring to individual growth graphs. The implications for nursing in the area of child health practice are discussed. Understanding of the complex and emotive issues surrounding childhood obesity is required when devising health promotion strategies.
|
Macfie, B. (2006). Assessing health needs and identifying risk factors. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, 12(6), 16–18.
Abstract: In 2004, Plunket nurses from eight areas around New Zealand participated in collecting data for a research project on health needs assessment practices. This project aimed to examine risk factors identified by Plunket nurses, what areas of health need considered to be priorities; grading of health needs; and how closely the results of health need assessment aligned with the individual clients' deprivation score. The researchers examine the assessment of health needs against the use of the Deprivation Index, which indicates a specific population in a specific area, as a funding model. This study appeared to show there are two distinct groups of clients assessed as high needs: those with risk factors such as family violence and severe parental mental illness, and who may live in an area of 1-7 deprivation; and those with multiple risk factors which include poverty, low education, and/or reluctance to access services and support, and who usually live in dep 8-10 areas. This research supports the anecdotal evidence that significant health needs exist outside the lower deprivation areas.
|
Manning, J. (2006). Building trust with families in neonatal intensive care units. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, 12(6), 18–20.
Abstract: Establishing a trusting relationship is a key therapeutic intervention for nurses working with families of hospitalised children. This article is an exploration of the definition of trust. Specifically, it considers how parents come to trust (or not) nurses in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) helps to reveal the meaning of parent-nurse trust and how this affects nursing practice. Understanding and meeting parental needs is important in developing and sustaining trust. The medical model of care often dominates in NICU. This is a deficit model that focuses on illness and treatment. However, the use of a nursing framework, such as developmentally supportive family centred care, focuses on recognising and building on the strengths of the family, by fostering trust to equip the family with the capacity to manage their infant's health care.
|
Tritschler, E., & Yarwood, J. (2007). Relating to families through their seasons of life: An indigenous practice model. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, 13(5), 18–3.
Abstract: In this article the authors introduce an alternative way that nurses can be with families, using a relational process that can enhance nurses' responses when working with those transitioning to parenthood. Seasons of Life, a framework adapted from the Maori health model He Korowai Oranga, emerged from practice to offer a compassionate and encouraging stance, while at the same time respecting each family's realities and wishes. The model allows the exploration of the transition to parenthood within a wellness model, and takes a strengths-based approach to emotional distress. This approach provides a sense of “normality”, rather than of pathology, for the emotions experienced by new parents. The specific issues men may face are discussed, where despite recent culture change that allows men a more nurturing parental role, there is still no clear understanding of how men articulate their sense of pleasure or distress at this time. Practitioners are encouraged to examine their own assumptions, values and beliefs, and utilise tools such as reflective listening, respect, insight and understanding. The most significant aspect of relationship between nurse and parents is not the outcome, but how nurses engage with families. Examples from practice will demonstrate some of the differing ways this relational process framework has been effective.
|
Gasquoine, S. E. (2005). Mothering a hospitalized child: It's the 'little things' that matter. coda, An Institutional Repository for the New Zealand ITP Sector, 9(3), 186–195.
Abstract: This article reports one aspect of a phenomenological study that described the lived experience of mothering a child hospitalised with acute illness or injury. The significance for mothers that nurses do the 'little things' emerged in considering the implications of this study's findings for nurses in practice. Seven mothers whose child had been hospitalised in the 12 months prior to the first interview agreed to share their stories. The resulting data were analysed and interpreted using van Manen's interpretation of phenomenology. This description of mothering in a context of crisis is useful in the potential contribution it makes to nurses' understanding of mothers' experience of the hospitalisation of their children. It supports the philosophy of family-centred care and highlights the ability of individual nurses to make a positive difference to a very stressful experience by acknowledging and doing 'little things', because it is the little things that matter to the mothers of children in hospital.
|
Woods, M. (2001). Balancing rights and duties in 'life and death' decision making involving children: A role for nurses? Nursing Ethics, 8(5), 397–408.
Abstract: This article examines a growing number of cases in New Zealand in which parents and guardians are required to make life and death ethical decisions on behalf of their seriously ill child. Increasingly, nurses and other practitioners are expected to more closely inform, involve and support the rights of parents or guardians in such situations. Differing moral and ethical values between the medical team and parents or guardians can lead to difficult decision making situations. The article analyses the moral parameters, processes, outcomes and ethical responses that must be considered when life and death ethical decisions involving children are made. It concludes with a recommendation that nurses should be recognised as perhaps the most suitable of all health care personnel when careful mediation is needed to produce an acceptable moral outcome in difficult ethical situations.
|
Gage, J., Everrett, K. D., & Bullock, L. (2007). A review of research literature addressing male partners and smoking during pregnancy. CPIT Repository, 36(6), 574–580.
Abstract: The aim of this research was to gain a more complete understanding of cigarette smoking and cessation during pregnancy by examining the men's role in supporting smoking cessation of their pregnant partners. A search of online databases was made for studies published in the last 10 years, in English, that included three phenomena; pregnancy, male partners, and cigarette smoking. Data were identified and organised according to theoretical, descriptive, and intervention methods of research. A growing body of literature indicates an interaction between pregnancy, male partners, and smoking behaviors. Explicating relationships between these phenomena is necessary for understanding and encouraging behaviours that promote maternal, child, and family health. The researchers conclude that current research highlights a need to further investigate the potential relationships, interactions, and health consequences of smoking behaviours of men and women during pregnancy.
|
Deo, L. (2021). Parental needs and nursing response following SUFE Surgery; An interpretive descriptive study. Master's thesis, Victoria University, Wellington.
Abstract: Examines the experiences of parents and nurses in caring for a child following invasive Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis (SUFE) repair. Conducts semi-structured interviews with parents of five children, predominantly Māori or Pacific, who underwent SUFE repair, and five paediatric nurses caring for the children and their families in the hospital ward. Offers two perspectives of the journey for these parents following such an injury, from the child's hospitalisation to caring for these children once they are home. Presents and contrasts these perspectives, revealing insights into the parents' ongoing need for support, information and planning for care, and nurses' efforts to meet these needs. Presents implications for nursing practice.
|
Campbell, K. (2008). Experiences of rural women who have cared for their terminally ill partners. In Jean Ross (Ed.), Rural nursing: Aspects of practice (pp. 166-178). [Dunedin]: Rural Health Opportunities.
Abstract: This chapter firstly offers background information in relation to palliative care and the role of women as providers of care in the home setting. Secondly, it discusses a study that evolved from a trend the author observed as a district nurse providing community palliative care in rural New Zealand and from New Zealand literature; that the majority of carers of the terminally ill in home-settings are women. The aim of this research study was to offer insights into the requirements of caring for a dying person at home and provide information to assist nurses working in the community and other women who take on the caregiver's role.
|
