Early detection of parenting stress in mothers of preterm infants during their first-year home.

BACKGROUND: Maternal stress following the birth of an infant is well acknowledged. It is particularly so when infants are born prematurely as their mothers cannot fully take on their parenting role until their infant(s) is discharged from neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). In this exploratory study, we examined whether these mothers' parenting stress would lessen during their first-year reunification with their infant(s) as they settle into motherhood at home. METHODS: Two groups of mothers with infants born between 24- and 33-week gestational age were recruited. A group of 25 mothers were monitored at their infants' 1-month corrected age (CA) and a second group of 24 mothers were monitored at their infants' 12-month CA. Subjects completed the long form Parental Stress Index (PSI) ranking how stressful they perceive the individual subscales in the Child and Parent Domains of the self-reported questionnaire (PSI-3; Abidin; PAR Inc). The PSI theorizes that the stress mothers perceive is a resultant of their respective characteristics, interactions with their infant(s), family, and environment. Statistical analyses include descriptive statistics, χ2 square analysis, and independent t-test. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the levels of perceived stress in the PSI subscales between the two groups of mothers at 1- and 12-month CA. Scores for the majority of respondents fell within the 15th to 80th percentile (% ile) distribution of Abidin's normative population, with some mothers falling below the 15th % ile. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The data collected suggest that: 1. the perceived stress experienced by mothers during their first-year reunited with their preterm infants is within the normal range observed in Abidin's normative population. 2. As the PSI is a self-reported survey, care providers need to be aware that some mothers may downplay their stress responses. 3. With the ability to monitor individual participants, the PSI can be readily offered to mothers at their infants' first year routine clinical visits to assist in the early identification of parenting issues that may threaten the development of a healthy mother-infant dyad. Early appropriate guidance and social support would help "at-risk" mothers develop more constructive parenting routines.

Long-term outcomes of children with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus disease.

OBJECTIVE: To assess long-term outcomes of children with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease detected at birth. STUDY DESIGN: We used Cox regression to assess risk factors for intellectual disability (intelligence quotient <70), sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL; hearing level ⩾25 dB in any audiometric frequency) and vision impairment (best corrected visual acuity >20 or based on ophthalmologist report). RESULTS: Among 76 case-patients followed through median age of 13 (range: 0-27) years, 56 (74%) had SNHL, 31 (43%, n=72) had intellectual disability and 18 (27%, n=66) had vision impairment; 28 (43%, n=65) had intellectual disability and SNHL with/without vision impairment. Microcephaly was significantly associated with each of the three outcomes. Tissue destruction and dysplastic growth on head computed tomography scan at birth was significantly associated with intellectual disability and SNHL. CONCLUSION: Infants with symptomatic congenital CMV disease may develop moderate to severe impairments that were associated with presence of microcephaly and brain abnormalities.

Effects of test administration order on children's neuropsychological performance: emerging one-word expressive and receptive language skills.

Differences in neuropsychological performance associated with specific test presentation sequences have been reported in adults. However, these effects have received little attention in children. The EOWPVT-R, a measure of one-word expressive language, and the PPVT-R, a measure of receptive language, were administered to 6- to 14-year-olds (control [n = 17] and experimental [n = 22] groups) in a counterbalanced fashion to investigate the potential effects of test presentation sequence on neuropsychological performance. Group findings were not evidenced subsequent to variation in test administration sequence. In contrast, order of test presentation revealed differences in performance. Administration of the PPVT-R prior to the EOWPVT-R resulted in enhanced EOWPVT-R expressive language scores in both groups of participants. Presentation of the PPVT-R after the EOWPVT-R did not affect performance. Applied and theoretical implications associated with these findings are discussed.