The Effects of Environmentally Induced Influences on the Neurologial Maturation and Weight Gain of Premature Infants
type: CreativeWork
description: Premature birth deprives the infant of the influences of maternal uterine stimulation on his physical growth and neurological development. It also deprives the newborn of the influences of the maternal sleep cycle and other aspects of maternal cyclicity. This problem has been recognized and studied for at least two decades by physiologists and neonatologists, but very few studies have been done on manipulating the premature infant's environment in order to foster cyclic patterns such as sleep. It had been observed by this investigator that premature infants in a neonatal intensive care unit are often disturbed from quiet sleep so that the nurse may administer the required care. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of increased quiet sleep time in the premature infant on his neurological maturation and weight gain. Quiet sleep time in this study was Increased in the infants in the experimental group by planning nursing care around their quiet sleep time. The problem which was investigated was whether infants who received experimental care to promote quiet sleep would have a significant increase in neurological maturation and weight gain when compared to the control group. Stated as a directional hypothesis, the experimental group would have a significantly larger (p=0.05) increase in neurological maturation and weight gain than the control group. This study used the experimental method of research. The independent variable, patterning of nursing care around the infant's quiet sleep in order to promote quiet sleep, was performed on half of the patients studied. The sample was a purposive convenience sample of 22 patients. All infants were between the gestational and conceptual ages of 31-36 weeks and were considered to be "stable" infants. Neurological examinations, consisting of segments of the Brazelton and the Amiel- Tison examinations, and weight measurements were performed on all sub jects on the day of entry into the study and on the day of dism…
abstract: Premature birth deprives the infant of the influences of maternal uterine stimulation on his physical growth and neurological development. It also deprives the newborn of the influences of the maternal sleep cycle and other aspects of maternal cyclicity. This problem has been recognized and studied for at least two decades by physiologists and neonatologists, but very few studies have been done on manipulating the premature infant's environment in order to foster cyclic patterns such as sleep. It had been observed by this investigator that premature infants in a neonatal intensive care unit are often disturbed from quiet sleep so that the nurse may administer the required care. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of increased quiet sleep time in the premature infant on his neurological maturation and weight gain. Quiet sleep time in this study was Increased in the infants in the experimental group by planning nursing care around their quiet sleep time. The problem which was investigated was whether infants who received experimental care to promote quiet sleep would have a significant increase in neurological maturation and weight gain when compared to the control group. Stated as a directional hypothesis, the experimental group would have a significantly larger (p=0.05) increase in neurological maturation and weight gain than the control group. This study used the experimental method of research. The independent variable, patterning of nursing care around the infant's quiet sleep in order to promote quiet sleep, was performed on half of the patients studied. The sample was a purposive convenience sample of 22 patients. All infants were between the gestational and conceptual ages of 31-36 weeks and were considered to be "stable" infants. Neurological examinations, consisting of segments of the Brazelton and the Amiel- Tison examinations, and weight measurements were performed on all sub jects on the day of entry into the study and on the day of dism…
author: Eastman, Valerie
language: English
keywords: Nursing, Infant; Premature
date published: 1978-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:54:17Z
provider: Loma Linda University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Loma Linda University