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Purpose: Although mothers of infants hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) often experience clinically significant levels of depression symptoms, accessing mental-health treatment may be difficult. NICU mothers need emotional support that is conveniently delivered at the infant's point-of-care by a trusted professional who is knowledgeable about the medical and nursing care in the NICU. Listening Visits are an effective and accessible, nurse-delivered depression intervention, yet little is known about what mothers discuss during these sessions. This analysis of sessions recorded during the randomized controlled trial evaluation of Listening Visits in the NICU provides a glimpse into NICU mothers' concerns and experiences. Study Design and Methods: This is a secondary, qualitative case analysis of the recorded Listening Visits sessions of four depressed NICU mothers as indicated by a score of 12 or above on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The mothers, who were all White, varied in their economic resources, educational level, availability of support, and infant illness severity. Results: Mothers discussed similar concerns and experiences, often at analogous temporal points in the six Listening Visit sessions, as well as one common concern they voiced throughout: family and friends do not understand what it is like to have an infant in the NICU. Clinical Implications: For mildly to moderately depressed mothers of infants hospitalized in the NICU, Listening Visits provide a way for bedside nurses to deliver compassionate care by listening to mothers' concerns and experiences. Mothers of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit often experience clinically significant levels of depression symptoms, however accessing mental health treatment may be difficult. The mothers need emotional support that is conveniently delivered at the infant's point-of-care by a trusted, professional who is knowledgeable about the medical and nursing care of their infant. For mildly to moderately depressed mothers of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit, Listening Visits provide a way for bedside nurses to give compassionate care by listening to mothers' concerns and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the experiences of postpartum depression among U.S.-born women of color via an integrative review. Study Design and Method: Databases searched were PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and PsycInfo. Sample inclusion criteria included qualitative research published in English that explored U.S.-born women of color's experiences of postpartum depression. There was no time limitation on when studies were published. Krippendorff's thematic content analysis method was used. Results: In this integrative review, eight qualitative studies investigating Black and Hispanic women's postpartum depression experiences and eight blog postings were synthesized. Five themes were identified that described postpartum depression experiences of Black and Hispanic women: (1) Struggling with an Array of Distressing Symptoms , (2) Cultural Stigma as a Powerful Roadblock, (3) Complicating Barriers to Seeking Much-Needed Professional Help, (4) Support as a Lifeline or "Just Pulling Yourself up by Your Bootstraps," and (5) Preferences for Help with Postpartum Depression. Clinical Implications: Cultural stigma of mental illness plus lack of knowledge of postpartum depression were strong barriers to women of color seeking timely professional mental health care. Nurses can share information about perinatal mental illness with women in cultural communities to help decrease stigma and increase mental health literacy. All health care providers and policy makers need to focus attention on the impact that women of color's economic and social stressors have on their postpartum depression. In this integrative review, cultural stigma of mental illness plus lack of knowledge of postpartum depression were found to be strong barriers to women of color seeking timely professional mental health care. Nurses can share information about perinatal mental illness to help decrease stigma and increase mental health literacy. All health care providers and policy makers must focus attention on the impact that women of color's economic and social stressors have on their postpartum depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To describe women's experiences of perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as written in their blogs. Study Design and Method: This qualitative descriptive study examined perinatal OCD blogs identified using Google search engine. Krippendorff's thematic content analysis method for qualitative data was used. The unit of analysis included segments of the bloggers' descriptions of their perinatal OCD. Clustering and dendrograms were used to group the data into themes. Results: Forty-three different posts from women in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and South Africa were analyzed. Five themes were identified that described women's experiences of perinatal OCD as told in their blogs: (1) Starting to tighten its grip during pregnancy, (2) Keeping horrific secrets all to themselves, (3) Tortured with terrifying images and thoughts, (4) Driven to compulsive behaviors to protect their infants, and (5) Long difficult road to recovery but so worth it. Clinical Implications: Perinatal OCD is a hidden problem that can have negative consequences for mothers and for their infants and families if not diagnosed or if misdiagnosed. There are effective treatments for OCD, but first nurses and other health care providers need to identify the women who are struggling with this anxiety disorder. During the perinatal period nurses can screen women for OCD. Developing a trusting relationship with pregnant and postpartum women is critical for nurses so that their patients can feel safe enough to share their horrific secret thoughts. Perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder is an often hidden anxiety disorder that can have negative consequences for mothers and for their infants and families if not diagnosed or if misdiagnosed. In this study, blog posts of mothers in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and South Africa with obsessive-complusive disorder were reviewed and themes identified. Developing a trusting relationship with pregnant and postpartum women is critical for nurses so that their patients can feel safe enough to share their experiences with obsesssive-complusive disorder and appropriate referral and treatment can be initiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To identify postpartum depression risk and describe experiences of women in the first 6 weeks after giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design and Methods: Using a convergent mixed-methods approach, we recruited a convenience sample of women living in the United States who gave birth March 1, 2020 or later from social media Web sites. Participants completed the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale-Short Form and provided written answers to open-ended questions regarding their experiences at home with their new infant. Results: Our 262 participants were on average 32.6 years of age, the majority were White (82%), married or partnered (91.9%), and college educated (87.4%). Mean postpartum depression score was 17.7 (SD = 5.9) with 75% scoring >=14, indicating significant postpartum depressive symptoms. Qualitative content analysis revealed five themes: Isolation and seclusion continue ; Fear, anxiety, and stress filled the days ; Grieving the loss of normal: It's just so sad ; Complicated by postpartum depression: A dark time ; and There is a silver lining. Quantitative and qualitative findings provided a holistic view of women's depressive symptoms and experiences at home with their infants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Implications: Although policies that reduce risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection for patients and the health care team must continue to be implemented, the adverse effects of depressive symptoms on maternal-infant wellbeing within the context of increased isolation due to the pandemic need to be kept at the forefront. Nurses need to be aware of the consequences of women sheltering in place and social distancing on maternal-infant outcomes, particularly on depression and likelihood of breastfeeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevalence rates of postpartum panic disorder range from 0.5% to 2.9%. New mothers may not know the medical terminology to describe what they are experiencing. Metaphors can provide women with a different voice to help provide a basis for shared understanding with clinicians. The purpose of this secondary qualitative data analysis was to examine the metaphors used by women to describe their panic disorder after birth. Metaphor Identification Procedure was used to analyze the primary dataset. The process revealed the following eight metaphors: caged animal, Coke in my veins, bone-tired, imposter, escape artist, magnifying glass, detective, and hermit. • Undiagnosed and untreated mental health of women related to childbirth is a silent health crisis. • Secondary qualitative data analysis maximizes the use of a previous dataset to answer new research questions. • Metaphor analysis can provide a window into how women are experiencing panic disorder after childbirth. • Being attentive to metaphors women use provides clinicians a unique approach to identify mothers struggling with panic disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When posttraumatic growth occurs in clinicians as a result of their caring for patients and families who are traumatized, it is termed vicarious posttraumatic growth.Purpose: (1) To determine the level of vicarious posttraumatic growth and the disruption of core beliefs in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses who have cared for critically ill infants and their families. (2) To explore those quantitative findings through nurses' qualitative descriptions of their growth.Methods: A mixed method with a convergent parallel design was used to address the study aims. A targeted sample of neonatal nurses was recruited from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) through the MyNANN Community message board. The sample consisted of 109 NICU nurses who completed the quantitative strand and 61 (55%) who completed the qualitative strand. Nurses completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Core Beliefs Inventory, and described their experiences of any positive changes in their beliefs or life as a result of caring for critically ill infants. IBM SPSS 25.0 and Krippendorff's content analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.Results: NICU nurses reported a moderate degree of vicarious posttraumatic growth and disruption of their assumptive world. Appreciation of Life was the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory dimension that reflected the highest growth and Spiritual Change the lowest.Implications For Practice: Providing posttraumatic growth interventions has the potential to help NICU nurses find meaning through their experience.Implications For Research: Future surveys need to include a higher response rate to generalize the findings. A video abstract is available.Video Abstract available at: https://journals.na.lww.com/advancesinneonatalcare/Pages/videogallery.aspx?autoPlay=false&videoId=36. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A mixed research synthesis involves analyzing and integrating quantitative and qualitative studies on a topic. • Fathers' stress levels during their infants' NICU stay were between a small to moderate level. • Fathers struggled with the unfamiliar NICU environment at first. • Fathers were torn between dividing their attention to their infants in the NICU and also their partners. • Fathers experienced an unexpected journey to fatherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Secondary traumatic stress is an occupational hazard for healthcare providers who care for patients who have been traumatized. This type of stress has been reported in various specialties of nursing, but no study to date had specifically focused on neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses.Purpose: (1) To determine the prevalence and severity of secondary traumatic stress in NICU nurses and (2) to explore those quantitative findings in more depth through nurses' qualitative descriptions of their traumatic experiences caring for critically ill infants in the NICU.Methods: Members of NANN were sent e-mails with a link to the electronic survey. In this mixed-methods study, a convergent parallel design was used. Neonatal nurses completed the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) and then described their traumatic experiences caring for critically ill infants in the NICU. SPSS version 24 and content analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.Results: In this sample of 175 NICU nurses, 49% of the nurses' scores on the STSS indicated moderate to severe secondary traumatic stress. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed 5 themes that described NICU nurses' traumatic experiences caring for critically ill infants.Implications For Practice: NICU nurses need to know the signs of secondary traumatic stress that they may experience caring for their critically ill infants. Avenues for dealing with the stress should be provided.Implications For Research: Future research with a higher response rate to increase the external validity of the findings to the population of neonatal nurses is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the metaphors used by mothers to describe their experiences caring for their children with obstetric brachial plexus injuries. Design and Methods A secondary qualitative data analysis was conducted from the primary data set of a phenomenological study of mothers' experiences caring for their children with obstetric brachial plexus injuries. The type of secondary qualitative data analysis approach used was analytic expansion. Metaphor Identification Procedure was used to analyze the corpus of 132 pages of typed transcription. Results This metaphorical analysis yielded seven metaphors mothers used to describe their experiences caring for their children with obstetric brachial plexus injuries. These metaphors portrayed mothers' lives as involving a heavy weight, a maze, a juggling act, a simmering pot, a dagger to the heart, a rollercoaster, and a constant battle. Conclusion The seven metaphors helped women express what they could not completely capture using only medical jargon and provide valuable insight for clinicians. Using secondary qualitative data analysis to mine for any metaphors in a primary data set gives researchers another valuable and creative opportunity to discover new knowledge from the data they had previously collected. Practice Implications Specific interventions can be developed to target each of these seven metaphors to help mothers in their daily care for their children with obstetric brachial plexus injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Workplace violence is a significant problem in the Jordanian emergency departments. • Violence is a strong motivator for nurses to leave their current roles or the profession. • Nurses suffer from frequent violent events in the emergency department that influence their daily lives. Workplace violence against emergency nurses is an alarming hazard in Jordan, as it is globally. There is no prior research exploring the experiences of workplace violence against Jordanian emergency nurses. This study aimed to investigate Jordanian emergency registered nurses' lived experiences of workplace violence from their patients or relatives while working. A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted using Colaizzi's data analysis method. Twelve emergency nurses participated in this study and were recruited via two Facebook groups using purposeful sampling. Four themes emerged from the analysis of violence in the emergency department revealed in this phenomenological study: (1) feeling overwhelmed that violence is so common, (2) ambivalent feelings toward patients and their families, (3) The feeling of inadequacy in handling violent situations, and (4) nurses' suffering. The findings of this study have practical implications for in-service workplace training programs and may be used to inform potential changes to policies and legislation designed to establish a safer emergency department environment for nurses, patients and their relatives/visitors. The findings can help policymakers, healthcare leaders, and managers better understand the consequences of workplace violence to advocate for and establish workplace violence prevention programs and strategies to support nursing staff who have experienced these events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Is there a “cost of caring” for health care providers of traumatized patients? Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the literature on secondary traumatic stress in nurses in order to answer the following questions: What studies have been conducted on secondary traumatic stress in nurses in all clinical specialties? What instruments were used to measure secondary traumatic stress in nurses and what psychometric properties were reported? Design: A systematic review. Data Sources: CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO databases were searched for the years 1981 to the present. Keywords used in the database searches included secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, secondary trauma, PTSD, and nurses. Review Methods: Research studies were reviewed for the following inclusion criteria: the sample included nurses, the secondary traumatic stress symptoms were measured, and the language was English. Results: Seven studies were found in which researchers examined secondary traumatic stress in nurses. The samples in five of these studies consisted of all nurses, whereas in the remaining two studies, nurses were included in the samples but the results were not specifically reported for the subgroup of nurses. Presence of secondary traumatic stress was reported in forensic nurses, emergency department nurses, oncology nurses, pediatric nurses, and hospice nurses. Three instruments were identified that measured secondary traumatic stress in practitioners who care for traumatized populations: Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, Compassion Fatigue Self Test for Helpers, and the Compassion Fatigue Scale—Revised. Conclusions: Presence of secondary traumatic stress in nurses was reported in all of the studies included in this literature review. The use of small samples and a number of different instruments to measure secondary traumatic stress symptoms, however, hindered the ability to make comparisons across studies and to draw conclusions. None of the studies conducted to date have focused on secondary traumatic stress in psychiatric nurses. Suggestions for future research and clinical implications for what can be done to protect nurses from secondary traumatic stress are addressed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Metasynthesis is a technique that can help establish qualitative research as a viable source of evidence. Using this approach, results from multiple qualitative research studies on the same topic are combined and synthesized to reveal the best evidence. This article addresses metasynthesis and its application to perioperative evidence-based care. Noblit and Hare's method for synthesizing qualitative research is described and illustrated using a previously published metasynthesis of postpartum depression research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to critique research is a valuable skill that is fundamental to a perioperative nurse's ability to base his or her clinical practice on evidence derived from research. Criteria differ for critiquing a quantitative versus a qualitative study (ie, statistics are evaluated in a quantitative study, but not in a qualitative study). This article provides on guidelines for assessing qualitative research. Excerpts from a published qualitative research report are summarized and then critiqued. Questions are provided that help evaluate different sections of a research study (eg, sample, data collection methods, data analysis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a mother who experienced childhood sexual abuse which result for her difficulty to breastfeed her child. It states that pattern matching and linear-analytic structures were used to develop the description of the study and analyze the case. The study reveals how breastfeeding triggers panic attacks and flashbacks to the patient that affect her breastfeeding activity.

The article presents part 2 of a series that summarizes 141 postpartum depression studies that have been conducted by nurse researchers in various countries. This article describes what nurse researchers have contributed to the following aspects of postpartum depression, including instrumentation/screening, interventions, mother-infant interactions, family dynamics, breastfeeding, preterm births and biological factors.

The article focuses on the issue of postpartum depression and presents information that aids in the understanding of such condition. Details gathered from research in the nursing practice are also disclosed which includes postpartum depression risk factors, epidemiology, transcultural perspectives, and mother-infant interactions. The need to address such issue that may result to maternal suicide or infanticide is also stressed.

Purpose: Perinatal health outcomes for Hispanic women are associated with acculturation. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between acculturation levels and postpartum depressive symptomatology and diagnosed postpartum depression among Hispanic subgroups. Study Design and Methods: The Postpartum Depression Screening Scale and the Short Acculturation Scale were used in the two phases of data collection. Phase 1 and 2 samples consisted of 377 and 150 Hispanic mothers, respectively. Puerto Rican mothers showed higher levels of acculturation than Mexican and other Hispanic women. A DSM-IV diagnostic interview (SCID) was used to establish a diagnosis of depression. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to study the unique relationships between ethnicity, depressive symptomatology, diagnosed depression, and acculturation. Results: There was no consistent relationship between acculturation and postpartum depression. Significant predictors of elevated postpartum depressive symptoms in Hispanic mothers were Puerto Rican ethnicity and cesarean delivery. Single martial status was a significant risk factor for postpartum depression. A limitation of the study was use of language as the sole criterion measure for acculturation. Acculturation is a complex construct with problematic measurement that needs greater refinement to facilitate research in which it is used as a variable. Clinical Implications: Hispanic mothers are a heterogeneous group and should not be treated as a homogeneous group. Subgroups of Hispanic mothers may not have the same level of acculturation or the same level of postpartum depressive symptomatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe in greater depth the profiles of the dimensions of the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS), with a focus on those women identified with postpartum depression (PPD), and to provide a discussion of the implications for early detection in the community. The respondents within the major PPD group averaged scores twice as high as those in the nondepressed group, and described more profound emotional responses to their maternal role transitions. Clinical Implications: PPD should be conceptualized as occurring in a continuum, with symptoms worsening over time for some women. Nurses working across healthcare settings can use the PDSS for identifying women with PPD. All healthcare providers who are in contact with postpartum women should be open to discussing these women's emotional needs, and should assess women on an ongoing basis. Using all opportunities to listen to women's unique stories that unfold during the postpartum period can help identify women who require treatment for this curable illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]