Nursing Case Study: Balancing Career and Child Development Concerns

This nursing case study examines the impact of Raffaella's demanding professional life on her daughter Ellie's development. It explores the challenges faced by working mothers, particularly single mothers, in balancing career responsibilities with the needs of their children. The study considers factors such as the potential for reduced cognitive scores in children of full-time working mothers, the reliance on substitute childcare, and the effects of parental stress on parenting styles. It also touches upon the importance of parental bonding, the impact of non-parental childcare on a child's health, and the various stages of infant development (cognitive, language, physical, and social skills). The study highlights the need for a holistic approach to childcare, emphasizing a conducive environment, close parental bonding, and understanding of developmental milestones. The author used databases like CINAHL and PubMed to gather peer-reviewed journals and developmental theories to further understand the psychosocial changes in the child.

Running head: NURSING CASE STUDY
NURSING CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1
NURSING CASE STUDY
Part 1
The question of choice for this report is how Raffaella’s busy professional life can affect
development of Ellie?
In recent years of employment, mothers have become almost compulsory in every
country and culture. As per recent statistics 75% of the mothers work full time in Australia and
generally seek maternity leave for six to four weeks (Hetherington 2014). In a word the mothers
are generally back to their professional life while their child is an infant. It has been found that
mothers who have worked full time in the first years of the child have low child cognitive scores
as compared to the ones that who provide ample time to their child (Lerner et al. 2015). It is
evident from the case study that Raff works in a very demanding position in a large non
profitable company hence it was not possible for Raff to attend her child 24x7 (Hetherington
2014). It has been found that the mothers who are employed tend to use substitute child care for
showing higher levels of sensitivity to the child (Papalia et al. 2012). This kind of sensitivity is
arising in mothers due to their increasing financial security (Lerner et al. 2015). Lahey (2013)
have argued that maternal employment is associated with beneficial outcomes if the families are
at financial risks (Shonkoff et al 2012). Although employed mothers have brought about
financial stability especially in the single parent family and it is evident from the case study that
Raff is a 40 year old single mother. There are many factors like the parental availability,
parenting styles, presence of absence of siblings, presence or absence of a fatherly figure impacts
the life of individual child (Lerner et al. 2015). One of the crucial factors in the social and the

2
NURSING CASE STUDY
emotional development of the child is the capability of the child to create the bond with the
parents (Hetherington 2014). It is the parental bonding that makes the child feels safe
(Hetherington 2014). Raff works long in her office and the stress that she brings home can affect
parenting. Lerner et al. (2015) have stated that if a family contains both the mother and father
hen any one of them can at least compensate the care in absence of the other, but in this case
Raff is a single mother. The case study reveals the career is very important for Raff, but her
Roman Catholic family background have taught her to take responsibilities and balance her work
life as well. Hence she has to approach a child care centre for the care of her baby. According to
Thompson (2014) children who spend more time in non parental child care centre have an
increased chance of infection, respiratory illness and gastrointestinal illness that can contribute to
significant child morbidity and can attribute to parental stress and absenteeism.
Part 2
Understanding the essence of human development and caring for the infants require
special skills that most of the parents worry about. Infant development is divided into following
stages such as cognitive, language, physical and social skills (Lahey 2013). I have searched the
topics according to each stage. The knowledge of the different primitive reflexes has helped to
understand the physical development in the adults. The knowledge of the sensory development
has helped my search strategies to be more specific (Thompson 2014). The case study reveals
that the child was irritated and was uncomfortable due to her physical burden. The episodes of
excessive crying have helped me to understand that the child was suffering from some mental
problems.

3
NURSING CASE STUDY
In order to find out the relevant references regarding the impact of the busy life of parents
in life of infants, I have brainstormed through databases like CINAHL, PubMed in search of the
peer reviewed journals regarding the theories of child development. Some of the key words that I
used for my search are early child hood, Parenting AND employment, employment AND
childhood development. Quality references can be got by applying the limiters such as by
including the year of publication or full text articles. The articles before 2011 were not taken into
account.
I have learnt that children are developmental milestones, which reflects their abilities like
talking, walking. I have learnt the effect of parenting on child development. I have understood
that a conducing environment, holistic care of approach, close bonding with the parents can
foster cognitive growth in the child. In order to nourish my future research regarding the
developmental stages of infants and how different factors contribute to their growth, I would also
use the developmental theories of Piaget or Vysgotsky in order to understand the psychosocial
changes in the child.

4
NURSING CASE STUDY
References
Hetherington, E.M. ed., 2014. Coping with divorce, single parenting, and remarriage: A risk and
resiliency perspective. Psychology Press.
Lahey, B. ed., 2013. Advances in clinical child psychology (Vol. 76). Springer Science &
Business Media.
Lerner, R.M., Liben, L.S. and Mueller, U., 2015. Handbook of Child Psychology and
Developmental Science, Cognitive Processes (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.
Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W. and Feldman, R.D., 2013. A child's world: Infancy through
adolescence. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Shonkoff, J.P., Garner, A.S., Siegel, B.S., Dobbins, M.I., Earls, M.F., McGuinn, L., Pascoe, J.,
Wood, D.L., Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health and Committee on
Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, 2012. The lifelong effects of early childhood
adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), pp.e232-e246.
Thompson, R.A., 2014. Stress and child development. The Future of Children, 24(1), pp.41-59.

5
NURSING CASE STUDY
Appendix
Question:
1. How Raff’s professional life does affects Ellie's development?
2. How Raff's diabetes can affect child care?
3. How can lack of a fatherly care affect the child's health?
4. What are the factors that might have irritated Elli in the hospital ward while in treatment?