Parenting It’s Types and Nursing Role What is Parenting?
Parenting is a multifaceted process encompassing the responsibilities of caring for a child, which includes nurturing, teaching, protecting, and advocating for the child’s well-being. It is a dynamic role that evolves as both the child and parent grow and adapt to changing circumstances, environmental factors, and the child’s specific needs. This developmental journey requires parents to constantly adjust their approaches and strategies to effectively support their child’s physical, emotional, and psychological growth.
Parenting and Nursing Role
Nursing research has increasingly focused on understanding and supporting the role of parenting. This area of research is crucial because it intersects with various aspects of child development and parental well-being. In nursing practice, three primary diagnoses are associated with parenting: altered parenting, parental role conflict, and altered parent-infant attachment.
- Altered Parenting: This diagnosis pertains to situations where parenting is compromised due to various stressors or challenges. For example, parents might struggle with providing adequate care when faced with their child’s health issues or other significant life changes.
- Parental Role Conflict: This involves conflicts that arise when a child is ill or has special needs, impacting how parents balance caregiving duties, emotional support, and their roles within the family. Such conflicts often lead to significant stress and require careful management by healthcare professionals.
- Altered Parent-Infant Attachment: This diagnosis addresses disruptions in the parent-child bond, which can occur due to various factors such as a child’s illness, hospitalization, or other stressors that interfere with the development of a secure attachment.
Nursing Research and Parenting
Nursing research has produced a significant body of work examining various aspects of parenting. Researchers in this field have investigated how parenting impacts child development and vice versa. However, there has been relatively less focus on how parenting affects adults. The substantive areas of nursing research related to parenting include:
- Transition to Parenthood: Studies focus on how new parents adapt to their roles, including the development of parental identity, the impact of stressors such as older maternal age or high-risk pregnancies, and the dynamics of parent-infant interactions.
- Parenting of High-Risk Infants: Research explores the challenges faced by parents of premature or ill infants, including the emotional distress experienced during NICU stays and the impact of parental distress on parent-child interactions and attachment.
- Parenting of Ill Children: Research in this area examines the effects of chronic or acute illnesses on parenting, including stress associated with treatments and hospitalizations, and the management of the child’s illness.
- Parenting of Healthy Children: Studies focus on parenting normal, healthy children, particularly preschoolers, and investigate aspects like parental perceptions, discipline, and the effects of various external factors on parenting.
- Problematic Parenting: Research in this area looks at how factors such as maternal mental health issues, substance abuse, and socio-economic challenges impact parenting. It also includes studies on adolescent parenting and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving parenting in at-risk groups.
Newborn Adjustment and Parenting
The transition to parenthood is a critical area of study. Researchers have examined how new parents adjust to their roles, including the formation of parental identity and the emotional tasks associated with pregnancy and early parenthood. Studies have explored how factors such as maternal age, infertility, and high-risk pregnancies affect this transition. Additionally, there is growing interest in understanding fathers’ roles and experiences during this period.
High-Risk Infant Parenting or Premature Infant Parenting
Parenting high-risk infants presents unique challenges. Research has focused on the emotional distress experienced by parents of premature or ill infants and how this affects their interactions with their children. Longitudinal studies have explored how parental influences impact the development of high-risk infants and have tested various interventions to support these families, such as NICU support programs and home visiting initiatives.
Ill Child Parenting
Parenting children with chronic or acute illnesses involves significant stress and adjustment. Research has examined how parents manage their child’s illness, the impact of treatments and hospitalizations, and the emotional responses associated with caring for an ill child. Recent studies have also started to explore how psychiatric conditions affect parenting.
Nursing Research and Parenting of Ill Children
Much of the research on parenting ill children has been descriptive and cross-sectional, often limited to small, single-institution samples. There is a need for more longitudinal studies to better understand how parenting interacts with health care providers and affects child outcomes. Future research should focus on strengthening the interaction between healthcare providers and parents and examining the influence of parenting on health and developmental outcomes in ill children.
Parenting of Normal Healthy Preschool Children
Nursing research has also addressed parenting of healthy preschool children. While less attention has been given to parenting older children and adolescents, studies have explored various aspects of parenting, including discipline, parental perceptions, and the effects of maternal employment and other external factors. Researchers have also begun to investigate ethnic differences in parenting practices.
Problematic Parenting
Problematic parenting is an area of concern that includes issues such as maternal mental health problems, substance abuse, and low-income parenting. Research has also focused on adolescent parenting and the need for more theoretically based interventions to improve parenting in these at-risk groups. Studies have shown the importance of addressing situational and environmental obstacles to positive parenting.
Nursing Research Framework
Theoretical frameworks used in nursing research on parenting are diverse, reflecting the complexity of the subject. Commonly used frameworks include:
- Role-Attainment Theory: Based on the work of Rubin and adapted by researchers like Ramona Mercer and Lorraine Walker, this theory explores how individuals adapt to their new roles as parents.
- Ecological-Systems Theory: Influenced by Uri Bronfenbrenner, Jay Belsky, and Arnold Sameroff, this theory examines how various environmental systems impact parenting. Kathryn Barnard’s theory is a notable example within nursing.
- Attachment Theory: Originating from the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, this theory is used to study parent-child bonding, especially in infancy and early childhood.
- Cognitive Theories: Developed by researchers like Karen Pridham, these theories focus on cognitive processes in parenting during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
- Stress Models: Influenced by Richard Lazarus and Hans Selye, these models are used to study the impact of stressors on parenting, especially in the context of acute illness.
Other Theories in Parenting Nursing Research
In addition to the aforementioned theories, other frameworks used in parenting research include cognitive and stress theories. These theories provide valuable insights into the cognitive processes and stress responses associated with parenting, particularly in challenging situations.
Nature of Nursing Research
Despite the theoretical diversity, much of the nursing research on parenting remains descriptive and lacks a cohesive theoretical foundation. This has led to fragmented findings and a need for more integrated research approaches. Key gaps in the literature include:
- Fathering and Parenting Adolescents: More research is needed to explore the roles of fathers and the parenting of adolescents and young adults.
- Cultural Perspectives: There is a need for research that examines parenting from a cultural perspective, going beyond mere comparisons to understanding effective and adaptive practices for parents from different ethnic backgrounds.
- Longitudinal Studies: More research is needed to study parenting as an evolving process over time, rather than relying on cross-sectional snapshots.
In conclusion, nursing research on parenting is a rich and evolving field that addresses a wide range of issues from newborn adjustment to parenting high-risk infants and ill children. Despite the progress made, there is still much to explore, particularly in terms of theoretical integration, cultural perspectives, and longitudinal studies. As nursing research continues to advance, it will play a crucial role in enhancing our understanding of parenting and improving support for parents across various contexts.