The birth of a story: Childbirth experiences, meaning-making, and postpartum adjustment.

The present study investigated how meaning-making around a birth experience predicts relationship quality and parenting stress across the transition to first-time parenthood, a time that many new parents find stressful and challenging. Childbirth experiences may set the stage for these challenges, and how new parents make meaning of childbirth could play a role in their subsequent postpartum adjustment. Meaning-making processes (sense making, benefit finding, and changes in identity) were coded from birth narratives collected from 77 mixed-sex biological parent dyads (n = 154 individuals) shortly after the birth of their first child. Parents reported on their relationship quality during pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum, and on their parenting stress postpartum. Mothers' greater sense making and benefit finding buffered longitudinal declines in their own relationship quality, and maternal sense making also buffered declines for fathers. Fathers' greater sense making and benefit finding predicted lower levels of their own parenting stress, whereas mothers' greater sense making and benefit finding were linked with higher paternal parenting stress. Finally, fathers' discussion of changes in identity predicted lower levels of parenting stress in mothers. These results suggest the importance of meaning-making following childbirth for couples adjusting to parenthood and highlight the value of studying meaning-making processes dyadically. Clinicians may be able to support new parents by facilitating their coconstruction of meaning during their shared birth experience and transition to parenthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Broken bonds: A meta-analysis of emotion reactivity and regulation in emotionally maltreating parents.

BACKGROUND: Emotional maltreatment is the most pervasive but least studied form of abuse. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we examined the role of emotion reactivity and emotion regulation in emotional child maltreatment. METHODS: We identified nine studies that compared levels of parental emotion reactivity and regulation in emotionally maltreating families with levels in non-maltreating families. RESULTS: Our meta-analytic findings revealed that, in comparison to non-maltreating parents, parents who are emotionally maltreating their children report higher levels of negative affect, depression, verbal aggression, and anger. We also found that in comparison to non-maltreating parents, emotionally maltreating parents report lower levels of emotional control, emotion regulation, and coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: We outline the theoretical and practical implications of these results, and emphasize how research into the etiology of child maltreatment may provide the basis for more effective prevention, screening, and treatment practices designed to eradicate emotional maltreatment.

Meditation with yoga, group therapy with hypnosis, and psychoeducation for long-term depressed mood: a randomized pilot trial.

This randomized pilot study investigated the effects of meditation with yoga (and psychoeducation) versus group therapy with hypnosis (and psychoeducation) versus psychoeducation alone on diagnostic status and symptom levels among 46 individuals with long-term depressive disorders. Results indicate that significantly more meditation group participants experienced a remission than did controls at 9-month follow-up. Eight hypnosis group participants also experienced a remission, but the difference from controls was not statistically significant. Three control participants, but no meditation or hypnosis participants, developed a new depressive episode during the study, though this difference did not reach statistical significance in any case. Although all groups reported some reduction in symptom levels, they did not differ significantly in that outcome. Overall, these results suggest that these two interventions show promise for treating low- to moderate-level depression.

Rural nurse anesthesia practice: a pilot study.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) have been identified as the predominant anesthesia providers in rural areas; however, little information is available about the types of services provided by rural CRNAs. The purposes of this study were to pilot test the Nurse Anesthesia Rural Practice Inventory (NARPI); determine whether CRNAs can provide the requested data; and provide data about characteristics of rural nurse anesthesia practice. The NARPI is a newly developed, self-administered questionnaire containing 39 items related to anesthesia practice. The survey was mailed to a stratified convenience sample of 146 actively practicing CRNAs living in rural areas. Of the 33 surveys returned (23%), 28 were usable for data analysis with descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that rural CRNAs provide a broad range of anesthesia and anesthesia-related services within and outside the operating room and support the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists' statement that CRNAs are the predominant anesthesia providers in rural areas. Significant differences were found in the employment settings of independent and medically directed CRNAs, the availability of certain anesthetic agents and monitoring devices, and the representation of surgical specialists based on community and hospital size. The NARPI has the potential to provide needed information about rural anesthesia practice in future studies.