published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

In the UK, only 1% of babies are exclusively breastfed to six months: this is one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the developed world. In response, trials have been set up to financially incentivize mothers to breastfeed for longer. However, we also know that 80% of women who stop breastfeeding in the first 1-2 weeks wanted to continue for longer: they are already incentivized to keep going. This project asks: what if health services invested in promoting breastfeeding more at the start, giving mothers the knowledge, support, and tools they need to continue, instead of incentivizing women at the end? The research methodology started with academic, expert and user research both qualitatively and quantitatively to gain insight and establish the design opportunity. The design direction was developed iteratively with sketches and prototypes, and continued user testing to reach the design solution.   The result of the project is a new service called best start, which addresses the issues mothers face throughout breastfeeding. The service helps to prepare and educate mothers during pregnancy, assists them through the crucial first weeks of breastfeeding, and supports them to the six-month milestone and beyond. Emphasis is placed on involving and educating the mother’s immediate family support network, and building her local peer support. The best start kit gives every mother the essentials to get started, and provides tangible tools to explain the key educational concepts to boost her knowledge to continue breastfeeding confidently.

Nineteen mothers of elementary-aged (5--12 years old) piano students were videotaped once a week supervising their children's piano practice at home for three consecutive weeks. Children were assigned a new piece to work on one week prior to the commencement of the study. A 12-minute segment from the 57 practice sessions (19 parent-child pairs, across 3 practice sessions) was viewed three times by the investigator and by two expert piano pedagogues: one time to record parent behaviors, a second time to record child behaviors, and a third time to note the parent and child's practice approach and to rate the effectiveness of the practice sessions. Three piano pedagogues also rated the quality of each child's uninterrupted performance. Mothers recorded in a practice log the amount of time they spent assisting their children. At the conclusion of the treatment period, the investigator interviewed mothers and children individually. / The main results of the study were as follows: (1) mothers were more likely not to show any observable behavior during their children's practice session than they were to show any specific behavior; (2) the majority of time in practice sessions was spent playing the instrument without any verbal or physical interruption; (3) children frequently practiced without any specific structure in their practice procedure, nor with any specific directives from their mothers; (4) mothers with little or no musical training practiced more efficiently with their children than did mothers who had a moderate to high level of musical training; (5) the children of mothers who had little or no musical training received higher performance ratings than the children of mothers who had a moderate to high level of musical training; (6) high performance quality ratings were associated with high ratings for practice effectiveness; (7) longer practice times resulted in higher performance quality ratings; (8) longer practice times were associated with more efficient practice sessions; and (9) 85% of children said that they enjoyed practicing with their mothers.

No description available.

Transition to motherhood is referred to as change in the new role and relationship during women's developmental stages. Difficult transitions may cause problems in the mother-infant relationship and influence the acceptance of this role. The purpose of this study was to investigate transition to motherhood as it relates to early mother infant interaction, stress and social support of first time Taiwanese mothers, and to determine other maternal characteristics related to transition to motherhood. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 63 first-time postpartum mothers between ages of 18 to 35 who intended to breastfeed their infants. The subjects were recruited from a maternity unit of one medical center in south of Taiwan between year 2004 to year 2005. Four major instruments were used to collect the data: Revised What Being the Parent of a Baby is like Questionnaire, The Nursing Child Assessment Scale, The Perceived Stress Scale and The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. The first administration of all questionnaires was conducted and the feeding interaction was observed and scored on the postpartum day during hospitalization (Time 1). After observation, immediate feedback regarding their feeding interaction including positive feedback and suggestions were given to all participants by the investigator. The second administration of all questionnaires was conducted at 4 weeks postpartum (Time 2). The last administration of all questionnaires was mailed to participants at 4 months postpartum (Time3). T-test, analysis of variance, Pearson Correlation and stepwise multiple regression were utilized to analyze the data. Findings indicate that first- time mothers with lower perceived stress and longer breastfeeding had an easier transition process to motherhood. During this transition, social support mediates the effect of perceived stress. The data fit the model and explained 42 % of the variance in transition to motherhood. Up to 29 % of variance was explained by perceived stress and of 13 %was explained by the length ofbreastfeeding. The study provides a knowledge base for further research on transition to motherhood and designing advanced educational program for new parents and clinical practice is required. Key words: transition, motherhood, mother-infant interaction, stress, social support.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1989. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [215]-245).

Thesis (M.A. in human development)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-71).

Thesis (M.S.)--Villanova University, 2008. / Psychology Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-292).