A Prospective Study of the Impact of Home Monitoring on the Family

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Families (14) whose infants required home monitoring for apnea were followed for .apprx. 5 yr from the initial contact (1977). Each family received at least 3 psychiatric interviews and 2 follow-up contacts. Effects on the monitored infant, siblings and parents were examined in open and semistructured interviews. At 1st follow-up (mean of 21 mo. after monitoring discontinuance), 7 of 14 monitored children were characterized as spoiled by parents. By the 2nd follow-up, 2 1/2 yr later, 9 children showed speech, learning and motor problems; of these 9 children had required resuscitation during their initial episode. Apnea severity was also related to both duration of monitoring and number of additional psychiatric interviews requested by parents or staff. Of 16 older siblings, 12 had psychological problems reported by their parents at 1st follow-up; these problems appeared to be largely resolved by the 2nd follow-up, although 3 children were still having problems that caused parental concern. Monitoring, as well as the apnea itself, caused substantial distress manifested in depression, fatigue and anxiety in many parents, particularly mothers. Despite their considerable distress, none of the families discontinued monitoring prematurely. The monitoring experience apparently can be divided into 4 phases: doubt/acceptance, dependence/frustration, discontinuance and late effects, with substantial differences in parents'' responses occurring only in the last 2 phases.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: