Register for Nurses Play Vital Role in Forming Relationship Between Addicted Mother and Infant
Leading nursing journal explores highly vulnerable population in need
of nursing care
Washington, D.C., April 2, 2009 The number of infants affected by
maternal drug and alcohol use is on the rise. Currently, 18 percent of
pregnant women are reporting tobacco use, 9.8 percent are reporting
alcohol use and 4 percent are reporting illicit drug use during
pregnancy, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration. A new article in the March/April issue of the Journal
of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN), published by
the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
(AWHONN), concludes that nurses need to enter a relationship with
addicted mothers without bias to influence these mothers to form an
early bond with their infant.
“Introducing a Caring/Rational Framework for Building Relationships
With Addicted Mothers,”
by Jennifer Morton, MS, MPH, RN, and Shelley Cohen Konrad, PhD, LCSW,
cites the Caring Rational Framework (CRF) as the cornerstone for
building trust with and giving quality care to addicted mothers. The
CRF is an integrative framework developed by the authors that requires
nurses to be committed to communication and collaboration while
understanding different cultures.
According to the article, if the relationship between an addicted woman
and her health care professional is strained, the woman is four times
less likely to receive the adequate preventive and ongoing health care
she needs.
Addicted mothers often enter the nurse/patient relationship with a
feeling of distrust due to negative experiences with past health care
providers. As a result, nurses often are viewed as judgmental by
addicted mothers, causing them to be unreceptive to needed health care.
“All patients, regardless of their lifestyle, deserve the same
quality of nursing care,” says AWHONN Executive Director Karen
Peddicord, RNC, PhD. “Although addicted mothers pose great challenges
to traditional nursing care, it is still important that nurses help
these mothers bond with their infants from pregnancy onward to
promote a healthy mother/infant relationship.”
The CRF offers guidance to nurses on how to develop relationships with
addicted mothers that can endure both the trials of substance abuse and
the rigors of new parenthood, according to the article. The model
advises nurses to work with compassion while remaining cognizant of the
needs of addicted mothers in a health care setting. The CRF promotes a
team model due to the difficulty of working with addicted mothers.
The article concludes that improvements in health care curriculum
focused on addicted mothers and infants are needed for both nursing
students and nursing professionals.
About JOGNN
The Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN) is
the bimonthly peer-reviewed journal of the Association of Women’s
Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
About AWHONN
The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
(AWHONN) is the foremost nursing authority that advances the health
care of women and newborns through advocacy, research and the creation
of high quality, evidence-based standards of care.
AWHONN’s 23,000 members worldwide are
clinicians, educators and executives who serve as patient care
advocates focusing on the needs of women and infants.
A leader in professional development, AWHONN is the first and only
association to be awarded the designation Premier Provider by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center for innovation and excellence in
Continuing Nursing Education.
In 2009 AWHONN celebrates its 40th anniversary of promoting the health
of women and newborns.
Founded in 1969 as the Nurses Association of the American College of
Obstetrics and Gynecology, the association became a separate nonprofit
organization called the Association of Women's Health and Neonatal
Nurses in 1993. For more information, please visit us at
http://www.awhonn.org
For more information or interviews, contact:
Kristin Mellon for AWHONN
202-296-2002
mailto:klm@ecius.netklm@ecius.net
