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Background Transitioning to motherhood is an important life event. Stress often arises due to feeding concerns, infant crying, and sleep problems. Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC) also known as the Possums programs provides an evidence-based, consistent and holistic approach to maternal and infant wellbeing. Objectives To understand maternal characteristics at point of services access and an exploratory evaluation of effectiveness of NDC/Possums services. Methods All mothers accessing NDC/Possums services via clinical services or self-paced online modules were invited to participate in a baseline survey. Follow up occurred when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. Participants who completed the 6-month survey were compared against their own baseline surveys. Those who completed the survey at 12-months were compared against their own baseline surveys. A pseudo-control group who had completed the baseline survey with infants 12 months of age was also compared to those who had accessed NDC/Possums services prior to 12 months of age (termed 'intervention' group). Results Crying time, mothers' perceptions of infant sleep problems, mothers' own sleep, mothers' Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ) scores and the mothers' Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores showed statistically significant improvements from baseline to 12-month old follow-up. Significant differences were also found between the pseudo-control group and 'intervention' groups. Conclusions for Practice This results indicate that accessing NDC/Possums services is efficacious in addressing infant's crying, the mother's perceptions of their baby's sleep problems, the mother's own sleep satisfaction, the mother's experiential avoidance, and the mother's risk of postnatal depression. NDC is relevant to public health, clinical service delivery and education for health professionals., Author(s): Emma Crawford [sup.1] [sup.2] , Koa Whittingham [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] , Emma Pallett [sup.1] , Pamela Douglas [sup.6] [sup.7] [sup.8] , Debra K. Creedy [sup.9] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.1003.2, [...]

This study aimed to examine the effects of an animated Patient Decision Aid (PtDA) about dietary choices on decisional conflict and decision regret. A prospective, observational, two-group comparative effectiveness study was conducted with patients (n = 90) from a southern Taiwan oncology inpatient unit. Data included the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), laboratory results, 16-item Decisional Conflict Scale (sf-DCS), and 5-item Decision Regret Scale (DRSc). Data were collected at admission (T0), after the first-cycle of chemotherapy but before discharge (T1), and after the six-cycle chemotherapy protocol (T2) (around 3 months). Group A received standardized nutrition education and a printed brochure, while Group B watched a 10-minute information video during a one-on-one inpatient consultation and engaged in a values clarification exercise between T0 and T1. The percentage of women with a MUST score ≧1 in Group A sharply increased over time, but not in Group B. Decision aid usage significantly increased patients' hemoglobin and lymphocyte values over time (p < 0.05). The digital PtDA contributed to less decisional conflict and decision regret in at-risk patients and improved their nutritional well-being. Decision-aids help patients make healthcare decisions in line with their values, and are sustainable for use by busy clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non-clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the "same event," childbirth, in a non-clinical sample of 285 women 4-6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM-5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non-clinical sample, this is likely to be due to "encoding" during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.