According to the attachment theory, a strong and healthy development of attachment between a parent and a child is crucial for the child’s emotional and psychological well-being (Bosmans et al., 2020). When nurses are working with parents, they attempt to promote a healthy attachment by stimulating certain behaviors. By promoting these behaviors, the nurse can help parents establish a solid and healthy attachment with their children, which leads to better emotional and psychological outcomes for the child in the long term. This theory also suggests that a strong emotional bond between a parent and a child is essential for healthy child development (Bosmans et al., 2020). Therefore, nurses working with parents likely attempt to stimulate behaviors that promote healthy attachment between the parent and the child. Some of the behaviors that the nurses attempt to stimulate include sensitivity, responsiveness, consistency, warmth, empathy, and providing emotional support to the parent.
Firstly, the nurse could advise the parent to be aware of their child’s emotional and physical needs and give them prompt, and appropriate attention. This attention can be through the parent recognizing and reacting to the child’s cues, such as cries, body language, and facial expressions (Ali et al., 2021). By the child depicting those behaviors, the parent would be able to tell what the child is going through and act promptly. Another behavior is responsiveness. The nurse might advise the parent to give their child a safe and nurturing environment and to pay attention to their needs. When a child needs it, this includes giving them support, security, and physical touch like holding and hugging.
Secondly, the nurse may advise the parent to follow through with rules and consequences and to be consistent in their caring methods, such as maintaining regular feeding and sleeping schedules. These will significantly assist in creating a strong parent-child bond, and it will also assist in the child’s health since the child will have all the needs as required by the doctors. Conversely, the nurse may encourage the parent to show warmth and compassion to their child through good verbal and physical interactions, such as complimenting and hugging them.
Lastly, the nurse may encourage the parent to empathize with the child by validating their feelings and providing emotional support (Ali et al., 2021). This empathy can only succeed if the parent is close to the child by creating a sense of safety and showing security. Positive interaction between the parent and the child can strengthen the bond. Therefore, the nurses encourage those activities that promote interaction and play.