UNIT V Middle-Range

Theories
• Prepared by
• Group 4:
Charize Banks
Kim Julienne Bardelosa
Cheyenne Solomon
Shaira kaith Madamba

Abbie Mae Morales

Ericka Rabida
Lyka Mae Lopez
Asmin Jamil
 MATERNAL RUOLE ATTAINMENT- Becoming a mother
-Ramona T. Mercer (1929, Present)

Biography:
Born on 4 October 1929

• Begun nursing career in 1950 in St. Margaret’s school of Nursing in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Graduated with L.L hill award for highest scholastic standing.
• She returned to school in 1960 after working as staff nurse head nurse,
and instructor in area of pediatrics, obstetrics and contagious disease.
• she completed a bachelor’s degree in Nursing Ain 1962 in University of new Mexico, lbuquerque
• Earned her Maternal-child master degree from Emory University in 1964
• Completed doctorate in Maternity nursing in the University of Pittsburgh in 1973.
• Mercer moved to California and accepted the position as Assistant Professor in the department
Of family health care nursing in at the University of California, San Francisco.
• Promoted in the year 1977 as associate professor to full professor in 1983.
• Remained in the role until her retirement in 1987.
MAJOR CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS

Maternal role attainment- is an interactional and developmental process occurring over time, in which the
mother becomes attached to her infant.

Maternal identity- is defined as having an internalized view of the self as a mother (Mecer 1995)

Perception of birth experience- woman’s perception of her performance during labor and birth is her perception
of the birth experience Mercer1990)

Self-esteem- “an individuals perception, self-acceptance, self-esteem and congruence or discrepancy between
self and ideal self” Mercer 1986 outline “Self-concept or self-regard”

Flexibility- Roles are not rigidly fixed; therefore who falls the roles is not importan (Mercer 1990)

Child rearing attitudes- maternal attitudes or beliefs about child rearing (Mercer 1986a)

Health status- is defined as “The Mother’s and father’s perception of their prior health, current health, health
outlook, resistant-susceptibility to illness. Health worry concern, sickness operation and rejection of the sick role
(Mercer et al. 1986)
Anxiety- a trait in which there is specific proneness to perceive stressful situation as they dangerous are
threatening, and as a situational specific state.
Depression- Having a good depression symptoms and a particular effective component of the depressed mood.
Roles strain -Role conflict is the conflict and difficulty felt by the women in fulfilling the maternal role
obligation(Mercer 1985)

Gratification- satisfaction Mercer (1985) describes gratification as “The satisfaction, enjoynment , reward, or
pleasure that w woman experiences in interacting with her infant, and in fulfilling the usual tasks inherent in
mothering.

Attachment- Is a component of the parental and whole identity. Induring affectional emotional commitment to an
individual is formed (Mercer 1990)

Infant temperamed –an easy versus a difficult temperament is related to wheether the imfant send hard- to-read
cues leading to feelings of incompetence in frustration in the mother (Mercer 1990)

Infant health status- Relates to illness causing maternal infant separation, interfering with the attachment process
(Mercer 1986)

Infant characteristic _include infant remperament, appearance , and health status (Mercer 1981)
Infant Cues- are infant behaviors that elicit a response from the mother (R.T. Mercer, personal communication,
September 2003)
Family – “a dynamic system that includes the subsystem- individuals

Family functioning- is the individual’s view of the activities and relationship between the family and its subsystem
and broader social unit (Mercer, Ferketich 1995)

Father or intimate partner -Contribute to the process of maternal rule attainment in a way that cannot be duplicate
by any other person (R.T. Mercer personal communication, January 2003)

Stress- is made up of positively and negatively perceived life events and environmental variables (Mercer 1990)

Social support - “The amount of health actually received, satisfaction with that help, and the person’s (network)
providing that help “(Mercer and colleagues 1986)
Four areas of social support are as follows:
1.Emotional support
2.informational support
3.Physical Support
4.Appraisal support

Mother- father relationship is the perception of the mate relationship that includes intended and actual values, goals,
and aggrement between the two.
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS

For maternal attainment, Mercer (1981, 1986, 1995) stated the following
assumption:
First relatively stable core self, acquired through lifelong socialization,
determines how a mother defines and perceive events.
And additional to the mother’s socialization, her developmental level and
innate personality characteristics also influence her behavioral responses
(Mercer 1986)
The mother role partner, her infant, reflect the mother competence in the
mothering rule through growth and development ( Mercer- 1986)
The Infant is considered an active partner in the maternal role- taking
process, affecting and being affected by the role enactment (Mercer 1981)
The father’s or mother’s intimate partner contributes to role attainment in
a way that cannot be duplicate by any other supportive person (Mercer
1995)
 society at large
Community
Family and Friends

Father of
Intimate
Partner

b
a
Mother
c
b
a Infant
c d
d

Becoming a mother: a revised model From Ramona t Mercer

Interacting environments that affect the process of becoming a mother
Further development:

In first time Motherhood: Experiences from teens to forties Mercer (1986) presented
a model of the following for phrases that occur in the process of maternal role
attainment during the first year of motherhood:

1. The physical recovery phase (from birth to 1 month)

2. The achievement phase (from 2-4 or 5 months0
3. The disruption phase (from 6-8 months)
4. The reorganization phase (from after the 8 month and still in process at 1 year)

Changes to the model and adaption of the following four descriptive phases to the
process of the becoming a mother were also proposed:

1.Commitment and preparation

2. Acquaintance, practice, and physical restoration (first 2 weeks)
3. Approaching normalization (second week to 4 months)
4. Integration of maternal Identity (approximately 4 months)

These changes were based on research and studies by other nurses and are evidence
of Mercer’s continued scrutiny and critique of her theory to improve its utility in
practice and research.