INFLUENCES ON MOTHERS USE OF CLINICIAN HELP IN THE INFANTS 1ST 3 MONTHS

Factors that influenced use of physician and nurse help were explored for 49 mothers of healthy, term-born infants for two study periods in the first three months. These factors were concepts pertinent to mothe rs' internal working models of help use, their resources, perceived pr oblem-solving competence, and clinical evaluation of maternal competen ce in use of help. Variables contributing to the frequency with which help was used and to the ratio of that help to other communal help sou rces differed for nurse and physician help and for the time period. Fo r physicians, the number of infant caretaking issues a mother identifi ed contributed to the frequency of help use in both study periods. The problem-solving help nurses gave emerged as a critical help in the se cond study period. The ratio of help from nurses to that from other so urces was higher when mothers identified reassurance from the nurse as a critical help and, in addition, as the infant grew older, when the nurse's evaluation of the mother's use of help was more positive. In c ontrast, throughout the first three months, the more infant care exper ience a mother had, the higher the proportion of help from physicians relative to communal sources of help. The findings suggest that nurses and physicians may have complementary functions when a mother uses he lp.