Psychosocial predictors of maternal and infant health among adolescent mothers

Article Abstract:

Psychosocial environment is thought to affect health of individuals, including children, but studies have found only modestly significant associations between environmental stress and illness in children. However, social support and other positive aspects of social environment have been found to significantly benefit health in varied groups of children. It has been suggested that the low degree of association between psychosocial factors and child health is that social factors are only indicators of deeper aspects of a child's psychological existence. This central factor has been theorized to be related to a sense of permanence coming from stability in valued elements of life experience. A prospective study of maternal and infant health during the first year of infant life was performed, in which social factors in 89 unmarried adolescents who gave birth were evaluated. A sense of permanence was significantly associated with fewer stressful life events, a higher perceived level of social support, and a better social network. In evaluating health, the strongest correlation was between a high sense of permanence and fewer self-reports of maternal and infant illness. Permanence was also related to fewer maternal sick visits and diagnoses; stressful life events were significantly associated with more frequent reported maternal and infant illnesses. Social network structure was also related to self-reported illnesses. No social variables correlated significantly with infant outcomes. The results provide some support for a relationship between a sense of permanence and health and illness; this association is discussed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Social aspects, Health, Teenage mothers, Mother and infant, Mother-infant relations

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A comparative study of heel-stick devices for infant blood collection

Article Abstract:

An automated incision device may be more effective than a lancet device for collecting blood samples from newborn infants by the heel-stick method. The automated device allows collection of a larger volume of blood within a shorter amount of time. It also permits a more precise incision to be made. Among 40 healthy newborn infants who were over 24 hours old, 20 underwent blood collection using a automated incision device and 20 underwent blood collection using a lancet device. The average volume of blood collected using the automated device was almost two times the volume collected using the lancet. The average time spent collecting the blood sample was approximately half as long using the automated device. The amount of bruising and pain experienced was similar among both groups of newborns.

Care and treatment, Blood collection and preservation, Equipment and supplies, Infants (Newborn), Newborn infants

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