Infants in Crisis: How Parents Cope with Newborn Intensive Care and Its Aftermath: Disorders of Human Learning, Behavior, and Communication

1 Introduction.- The Psychological Challenges of Newborn Intensive Care.- Plan of the Book.- 2 Background and Description of the Study.- The Medical Setting of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.- The Health and Development of Newborn Intensive Care Unit Graduates.- Methods and Procedures.- 3 The Search for Meaning.- Order and Purpose.- Benefits and Gains.- Downward Comparison.- 4 The Search for Mastery.- The Benefits of Personal Control.- Retrospective Control Appraisals.- Expectancies of Control Over Childrens’ Outcome.- Expectancies of Control Over Future Pregnancies.- Comforting Alternatives to the Perception of Personal Control.- 5 The Search for Causes.- Causal Searching.- A Taxonomy of Causal Beliefs.- Two Types of Self-Blame for Aversive Events.- Consequences of Self-Attributions.- Behavioral Self-Blame and Guilt.- The Emotional Costs of Blaming Others.- 6 Coping Strategies in the Hospital.- A Definition of Coping.- Coping and Adjustment to Stressful Events.- Descriptive Findings.- Correlates of Coping Strategies.- Coping Predictors of Mother and Child Outcomes.- 7 The Search for Social Support.- The Benefits of Social Support.- Appraisals of Support During the Hospitalization.- The Need for Support.- Appraisals of Support After Discharge.- Social Network Correlates of Adaptation at 6 Months.- Social Network Predictors of 18-Month Outcomes.- Coping Strategies and Support.- 8 Mothers’ Remembrances of Newborn Intensive Care.- Memories of the Hospitalization.- Are Memories Perceived as Helpful or Harmful?.- The Emotional Significance of Involuntary Memories.- Predicting Mothers’ Emotional Response to Reminders.- Intrusive Thoughts and Avoidance of Reminders.- 9 Mothers, Fathers, and Couples.- Distress and Well-Being.- Appraisals of Control, Outcome, andMeaning.- Coping Strategies.- Appraisals of Coping Differences.- Appraisals of Social Support.- Perceived Impact on the Marital Relationship.- 10 Summary and Discussion.- Integrative Analyses.- Review and Discussion.- Meeting Parents’ Need for Support.- Implications for Helping.- References.