Barnard's Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Theories of development and frameworks to support development are massively important to those working with children. They help us to comprehend children and understand how they react to different situations which affect their behaviour and in turn the way they learn. Theories and ways of working with children have merged to provide frameworks for children’s care, for example the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This tries to ensure everyone works together, along the same lines. Some of the theorists and their theories have had a huge influence on current practice.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast nursing theorists from the four categories which are identified by Meleis as: Needs, Interaction, Outcome and Caring. (Meleis, 2012, Chapter 9) I have chosen Faye Abdellah, Imogene King, Myra Levine and Jean Watson as the grand theorists that I would like to explore for this study in contrast and comparison. This decision was made, in part, due to the fact that all of these theorists were born and educated in the twentieth century and I felt that their theories might be more applicable to my nursing practice. The information contained in the tables was obtained from several sources in an

Theories of development and frameworks to support development are incredibly important to us working with children and young people. They help us to understand children, how they react to things/situations, their behaviour and the ways they learn. Different theories and ways of working with children have come together to provide frameworks for children’s care, such as Early year’s foundation stage (EYFS) which is used within all child care settings. This encourages us to work together, help and check the development of babies, children and young people, to keep them healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to

A/c 1.2 The benefit of using a child centred model of assessment and planning is that you concentrate on the person and their specific and individual set of needs and circumstances. A child centred model promotes the rights of the child and allows them to communicate and say what they want for themselves. When children are moved to make the correct choice and take a lead using this type of assessment they tend to succeed as they develop their needs. Children and young people’s needs can be identified through observation and the sharing of information between those that are involved in the care of the young people or children. The parents and class teachers are the best places to identify individual needs because the young people spend more time at school and home than they do anywhere else. School/ home visits, review meetings, hospital consultations are some of the

It is very important to recognise that parents and practitioners have different kinds of relationships with the children in their care. Practitioners need to develop consistent, warm and affectionate relationships with children especially babies but they should not seek to replace the parents. Babies need to be with the same people each and every day to develop social relationships. This is why the EYFS requires all early years settings and schools to implement a key person system. Parents and practitioners have one thing in common that is very important: they all want the best for the child. The roles involved are not the same yet they are complementary. Parents know their own child best. Practitioners have knowledge of general child development.

My Virtual Child program basically covers physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development at several age levels. Various personalized questions were asked and given scenarios that would shape my child’s physical development, cognitive development, and affect his personality. My Virtual Child has a unique set of characteristics at birth, some of which were influenced by how I answered and completed the assessment when I first logged into My Virtual Child. These characteristics gradually emerged and affected his behavior and development. When it was time, our precious baby boy was born and we decided to name him Noah. Noah as a newborn was fussy and often wanted to be held. Breastfeeding time seemed to be the perfect soothing method. I enjoyed breastfeeding because it builds up his immune system. At this point Noah recognized me as his primary care giver because I was the one always attending to his needs. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment “The infant knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world”. As a result, Noah was more attached to me than he was to my husband. As time transcurred, he was able to bond to my husband by spending more quality time together.

Assessment frameworks are the way in which a child is assessed to see whether they have any particular needs, what they are and how we can help them be met. It is useful in deciding whether a child has reached expected milestones. Assessment frameworks may be summative or formative. Formative assessments are used to check progress and helps us to consider learning opportunities needed to progress. The ongoing observations we do of children are formative assessments. They inform the next steps of the childs learning. Summative assessment provides staff with information about the attainment of knowledge and is usually measured against a benchmark or standard. For example, the EYFS assessment which is done toward the end of the reception year. This “sums up” all the different information from

1.1. When assessing development some factors need to be taken into account one of these is confidentiality, this means that you will need permission from a child’s parents/carers before doing observations, also when information is wrote down about a child is important that it is kept in a safe place were only the relevant people can access it. Also making sure that information about a child is only shared with parents/carers or colleagues and professionals that have the right to know. Another factor to take into account is a child’s wishes and feelings, this means to take into account the child’s wishes when doing an observation or assessment. The child may not want to be assessed at

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ 2010, (WTtSC 2010) instructs organisations and individuals working with children on how actions such as assessments should be done in accordance with the CA1989 and ensures that professionals understand what their responsibilities and duties are. This specific documentation assisted my understanding of the format in which assessments should be conducted as well as my understanding of multi-professional work surrounding A and his needs. Following guidelines from the Assessment Framework (WTtSC p.44), I was able to establish what A’s specific developmental needs were so they can be addressed during my mentoring sessions. Areas such as his education, family and social relationships and stimulation as well a look at the wider family unit and his environment. This multi-professional meeting was in fact my initial assessment.

Following this, several programmes and frameworks were later implemented into all establishments that worked with children, and these included “Every Child Matters” services, planned around children’s and young people’s needs and the improvement of the five key outcomes which contribute to their well-being: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy & achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. There was also the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) system which enables multi agencies to access and add information about a child’s needs. The CAF is used at the earliest opportunity when it is highlighted that a baby, child or young person may need help in their lives in order to progress. It is used when there is concern about a child, or agencies have recognised a child has additional needs, that require further exploration and a multi-agency response. The assessment provides further information and understanding of the child’s circumstances.

It has been shown that the relationships infants develop early on in life have lasting effects on their identity and behavior. Extensive research has indicated that the relationship between an infant and its caregivers is particularly important.

The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the

Bryne, Goshin, and Joestl conducted a study with 30 mother-infant dyads co-residing in a prison. This five year longitudinal study was conducted in two prison nurseries with “similar regulations, resources, programs, and physical features” (379). One of the independent variables was length of time in the nursery which was coded into two groups. Another independent variable was two interventions conducted by nurse practitioners; one primarily focused on mother-infant bonding and the other focused on infant health (379). Finally, data was collected on mother attachment style and compared to infant attachment style. However, there was no significant difference in attachment between the health and bonding

It is imperative that practitioners are able to observe and assess each child’s development in order to gain a full understanding of their development and how they can build upon this in order to cater to the needs of the child and allow them to fulfill their potential. This is highlighted by Wheeler (2009, p.63) in stating that ‘Observations are fed into family worker and team planning so that future activities can be based on an individual child’s interests and patterns of behavior and thereby enhance their learning’.

Research in the professional practice of nursing was built upon a wide variety of theories that were presented by many well-known nursing theorists. Nursing theories that may be recognized today include Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory, Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory, Madeleine Leininger’s Cultural Care Theory, and Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Process Theory. These individuals and their respective theories