Maternal Understanding of Infant Crying: What does a Negative Case Tell Us?

Abstract

In this report, data analysis of a negative case is presented. The purpose of the original study was to delineate how 18 new mothers, both primiparous and multiparous, came to understand the crying of their infants. That process, which arose from the 17 congruent cases of the sample, is summarized here. Data analysis of the negative case validated the process developed from those cases, and demonstrated that further refinement of the original process is probably both necessary and useful for nursing. The elements of the concept of empathy were used to operationalize the refinement. Further, analysis of the negative data lead to the identification of three likely blocks to the process of maternal understanding of infant crying. Questions regarding the nature of blocks to the process of maternal understanding of infant crying, not dealt with in the original data analysis nor in the research reviewed, were posed.