published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

Protocol: The study reported information from case records of 17 new mothers and their children who received an agency's services. Mother's expectations about their child's accomplishment of four developmental tasks (controlled crying, walking, toilet training and accepting discipline) were compared with mother's practices over a four to five year period.Participants: Seventeen adult women (currently 18 years and older) who were mothers of newborns and who received continuous agency services during a four to five year period agreed to participate in the case record review.Information Handling: When mother's signed release form was returned, the agency made the mother's case record available for selecting information pertinent to the study questions. The investigator focused on the caseworker's anecdotal notes of home visits, written narrative interviews, biannual goal-setting forms, and the Denver Developmental Screening Tests (Denver II) related to the mother and baby.Analysis: Information was grouped around two major themes. One theme was the mothers' expectation statements and mothers' practices about their child's development. The other major theme was the description of the caseworker's informal educational techniques and role modeling of appropriate behaviors.Conclusions: The most common developmental patterns were: Eleven of 17 mothers held expectations about their behaviors related to controlled crying; seven of 17 mothers' expectations matched their child's age for walking; nine of 17 mothers' behaviors didn't match their expectations related to toilet training their child; and seven of 17 mothers' behaviors matched their expectations with regard to accepting discipline.The most common pattern was that the case worker provided appropriate amounts of literature; discussed development, both general and focused, at numerous home visits; administered and discussed developmental testing approximately every six months; referred and coordinated developmental delay treatments; and assist the mother in providing the treatment plans. / Department of Educational Studies

This thesis examines inter-relationships between the feeding, health, and growth of infants (aged 0-24 months) in low-income households in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mixed-longitudinal data were collected from a sample of 113 infants and their mothers in Kebele 11, Keftegna 24 from November 1987 to April 1988. Breastfeeding is the culturally esteemed mode of infant feeding. The culture-specific concept of weaning places the emphasis on the termination of breastfeeding, with little consideration of the quality and quantity of weaning foods. As a result, weaning foods are basic and monotonous. Survival data analysis shows that weaning is commenced at the mean age of 9.2 months, and completed at the median age of 20 months. A probabilistic model is proposed that includes a set of inter-related 'infant-centred', 'mother-centred', and other factors such as the seasonal availability of weaning foods influencing the process of weaning. Culturally-prescribed norms appear to play little or no part in the timing of weaning, in particular, the infant's age is of secondary importance. Direct observations of suckling behaviour and infant care reveal that 'on demand' breastfeeding was practised, and the mean duration of suckling sessions was 10.96 minutes. The duration of breastfeeding was influenced significantly by maternal body-mass index. Seasonal patterns were detected in the prevalence of fever, coughing, and vomiting in the infants. Associations between morbidity and other data using log-linear models suggest that infant's diarrhoea is closely linked to the level of household hygiene, maternal education, and mother's morale. Infant's ilnesses caused appreciable deficits in weight, but not in stature. Processes of 'catch-up' and 'catch-down' growth are demonstrated by the seasonal effect of diarrhoeal illness on weight. Avenues for further research and policy reform suggested by the findings of this study are discussed.

No description available.

Human milk fortification is recommended to meet the nutritional requirements of preterm infants. Most human milk fortifiers (HMFs) contain non-protein energy (NPE) predominantly as carbohydrate which may lead to high fat deposition relative to lean mass accretion. We hypothesized that fortifying human milk with a HMF containing NPE predominantly as fat (fatHMF) would result in a higher (1) lean mass accretion (percent lean mass) and (2) growth (anthropometry), compared to fortifying with an isocaloric, isonitrogenous HMF containing NPE predominantly as carbohydrate (carbHMF). In a double-blind randomized trial, 29 infants (≤32 weeks and appropriate for gestational age) admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit received either mother's milk fortified with the fatHMF (n = 14) or the carbHMF (n = 15). Body composition and growth measurements were performed at Baseline (at ≤10% of goal intake 150 ml/kg), Phase 1, and Phase 2 (3 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively, from starting HMF). Although neither percent lean (fat) mass nor growth were statistically different, by Phase 2 infants receiving fatHMF showed a 63% increase in percent fat mass, gained 1194 g in weight and 8.8 cm in length, whereas the carbHMF showed a 96% increase in percent fat mass, gained 1005 g in weight and 6.9 cm in length (p = 0.3586, 0.3815, and 0.1851 respectively). By Phase 2, the fatHMF infants gained 128 g in absolute dry lean tissue, whereas the carbHMF infants gained 99 g (p = 0.0362, Post hoc analysis). Differences of this magnitude are clinically important, but a larger study is required to demonstrate statistical significance.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Applied Statistics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1995.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1995.