A family whose baby is in the NICU may suffer anxiety and loss due to not being able to take their baby home like other parents would. Which action by the nurse is most supportive?
Encourage the parents to join a support group for NICU families.
Suggest that the parents limit their visits to avoid stress.
Advise the parents to avoid attachment until the baby is discharged.
Provide regular updates and include them in the baby’s care.
The Correct Answer is D
Choice A rationale
Support groups provide emotional connection, but they do not address immediate concerns like the parents' involvement in care, which is essential for fostering confidence and bonding with the baby.
Choice B rationale
Limiting visits could increase parental anxiety and hinder their emotional connection to their baby. Parental involvement in care improves attachment and reduces stress, making this suggestion counterproductive to emotional health.
Choice C rationale
Advising parents to avoid attachment disregards the importance of early bonding in the neonatal period, which plays a key role in long-term emotional and psychological development for both the child and the parents.
Choice D rationale
Regular updates and including parents in the baby’s care empower them, promoting attachment and reducing feelings of helplessness. Parent-infant interaction has been shown to enhance coping mechanisms and improve family dynamics.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
Choice A rationale
Advising about birth defects without offering compassionate support can intensify parental grief and fails to acknowledge the significance of their emotional trauma, worsening their psychological response after a stillbirth.
Choice B rationale
Discouraging naming deters parental acknowledgment of their baby's existence, which disrupts grieving processes. Recognizing their loss helps families process grief healthily and facilitates emotional closure.
Choice C rationale
Giving mementos and allowing holding the baby fosters parental bonding and validates their loss. These actions are supported by bereavement care guidelines promoting emotional processing, acceptance, and closure after stillbirth.
Choice D rationale
Immediate morgue transport disregards the psychological needs of grieving parents and deprives them of opportunities to spend time with their baby, essential for acknowledging their loss and beginning grief processing.
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
Choice A rationale
Feeling tired and wanting to sleep longer postpartum is common due to disrupted sleep from infant care, but it doesn't specifically indicate postpartum depression, which involves significant mood and emotional changes.
Choice B rationale
Occasional headaches postpartum can result from hormonal changes or stress, resolving with analgesics like Tylenol, and are not indicative of postpartum depression without associated mood disturbances like sadness or crying episodes.
Choice C rationale
Persistent crying and daily sadness are hallmark signs of postpartum depression, linked to hormonal imbalances, disrupted serotonin regulation, and social or emotional factors affecting maternal mental health postpartum.
Choice D rationale
Restlessness may be attributed to anxiety, but it alone doesn't conclusively diagnose postpartum depression, which involves deeper and more pervasive mood changes such as sadness or emotional withdrawal.
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