Cumulative risk factors and mental health of mothers of infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Purpose: The present study examined predictive linkages between multiple risk factors and their contribution to the development of anxiety and depression in Puerto Rican mothers of infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).Method: The scales used were: the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, the Hollingshead, and a Demographic Questionnaire was constructed to obtain information about mother and infant characteristics.Results: Both the cumulative psychosocial risk factor (B = 0.267, p = .011) and the cumulative neonatal risk factor (B = -0.220, p = .039) were significant predictors of mothers' anxiety.Discussion: It could be beneficial to create psychosocial interventions in the NICU to address parents' needs and promote emotional resilience. Also, training staff to provide an adequate explanation to mothers, regarding the infants' recovery process is of particular importance.

Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory Revision: Moving Culture From the Macro Into the Micro.

Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of human development is one of the most widely known theoretical frameworks in human development. In spite of its popularity, the notion of culture within the macrosystem, as a separate entity of everyday practices and therefore microsystems, is problematic. Using the theoretical and empirical work of Rogoff and Weisner, and influenced as they are by Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective, we reconceptualize Bronfenbrenner's model by placing culture as an intricate part of proximal development processes. In our model, culture has the role of defining and organizing microsystems and therefore becomes part of the central processes of human development. Culture is an ever changing system composed of the daily practices of social communities (families, schools, neighborhoods, etc.) and the interpretation of those practices through language and communication. It also comprises tools and signs that are part of the historical legacy of those communities, and thus diversity is an integral part of the child's microsystems, leading to culturally defined acceptable developmental processes and outcomes.