Ma. Ludwig et al., NEONATAL NURSES KNOWLEDGE OF AND ATTITUDES TOWARD CARING FOR COCAINE-EXPOSED INFANTS AND THEIR MOTHERS, The Journal of perinatal & neonatal nursing, 9(4), 1996, pp. 81-95
The knowledge, attitudes, and backgrounds of 215 nurses employed in th
e nurseries of six hospitals were studied by means of a questionnaire
survey. The nurses' attitudes toward the mothers of cocaine-addicted i
nfants were found to be generally negative and/or judgmental and their
knowledge to be low. More experience with nursing cocaine-addicted in
fants and greater acuity of the neonatal unit in which the nurse worke
d correlated with more positive attitudes toward the infants but not t
oward their mothers. Knowledge and attitude correlated positively with
formal education, inservice education, and self-education, but the co
rrelations were weak.