African American mothers' self-described discipline strategies with young children in 1992 and 2012.

In this qualitative descriptive study, 30 young, unmarried, low-income African American mothers in Memphis, TN, were interviewed in 2011-2012 about their discipline strategies with their 12- to 19-month-old children. Using content analyses, their strategies were described and compared with those from a similar sample in 1992. Findings suggest both continuity and change during that 20-year period. More mothers in 2011-2012 described the use of distraction and time out, suggesting a wider variety of strategies than were used in 1992. These findings may help clinicians to better understand disciplinary methods in young low-income African American mothers such as these in Memphis. Approaching mothers in a respectful and culturally sensitive manner will help them focus on effective, developmentally appropriate strategies consistent with their own parenting goals.

Women's reasons for attrition from a nurse home visiting program.

OBJECTIVE: To describe mothers' reasons for leaving a home visiting program early. DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive study using semistructured interviews of mothers who dropped out of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) and two focus groups with nurses and nurse supervisors at an NFP site. SETTING: A New York State site of a NFP home visitation program for low-income new mothers designed to improve the physical and emotional care of children. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 21 mothers, 8 nurses, and 3 nurse-supervisors. METHODS: Semistructured interviews and focus groups were used to collect data, which were analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: The program was not perceived to fit a mother's needs when she was overwhelmed with other responsibilities, the nurse did not meet her expectations, the content was not of interest, or the mother did not desire visits after the infant was born. Nurses and mothers described the need for mothers to have organizational and communication skills, such as keeping track of appointments, calling to reschedule, articulating needs, and asking for assistance. Disruptive external influences included nurse turnover and unstable living situations, including frequent moves and crowded housing. Each of these types of barriers had potential to interact with the others, creating complex combinations of challenges to retention. CONCLUSION: NFP retention might be improved by reframing program relevance to individual mothers and increasing maternal organizational and communication skill development.

Assessing the acceptability and feasibility of a school-located influenza vaccination program with third-party billing in elementary schools.

This study qualitatively assesses the acceptability and feasibility of a school-located vaccination for influenza (SLIV) project that was conducted in New York State in 2009-2011, from the perspectives of project participants with different roles. Fourteen in-depth semistructured interviews with participating schools' personnel and the mass vaccinator were tape-recorded and transcribed. Interviewees were randomly selected from stratified lists and included five principals, five school nurses, two school administrators, and two lead personnel from the mass vaccinator. A content analysis of transcripts from the interviews was completed and several themes emerged. All participants generally found the SLIV project acceptable. School personnel and the vaccinator viewed the SLIV project process as feasible and beneficial. However, the vaccinator identified difficulties with third-party billing as a potential threat to sustainability.

African american mothers' self-described discipline strategies with young children.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: African American families have been described as using higher levels of non-abusive physical discipline with their children than European American families. Few if any studies have documented AA families' use of disciplinary strategies in their own words, however, or their reasons for their use. METHODS: In this qualitative study, 51 African American mothers from a 1992 Memphis sample described their disciplinary strategies with their 12 to 19 month old children. RESULTS: Seventy-seven percent of mothers described using verbal teaching along with non-abusive physical discipline, such as tapping their children's hands. Mothers also expressed concern about being too strict, described awareness of their children's developmental limits, and used non-physical disciplinary methods, consistent with positive accepting parent-child relationships. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are important because the low-income girls who experienced such parenting in the 1990s are now young mothers themselves. Current practice guidelines encourage new mothers to think about how they themselves were parented; the knowledge from this study may assist practitioners to engage present-day African American mothers in supportive discussions about physical and non-physical discipline methods with young children.