Cheryl Tatano Beck

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For over 30 years Cheryl Tatano Beck has contributed to the knowledge development in obstetrical nursing (Lasiuk & Ferguson). Beck received her baccalaureate in nursing in 1970 from the Western Connecticut State University (Lasiuk & Ferguson). She graduated in 1972 from Yale University with a Master’s degree in maternal–newborn nursing and nurse–midwifery (Lasiuk & Ferguson). Ten years later Beck received her doctorate in nursing science from the Boston University (Lasiuk & Ferguson). Beck has received more than 30 awards for her work and research and she was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of nursing for her theory of postpartum depression which was developed in 1993 (Lasiuk & Ferguson). She has authored more than 100 journal
The following year Beck extended her findings into a grounded theory of PPD which she titled Teetering on the Edge (Lasiuk & Ferguson, 2005). Beck chose a qualitative approach because she believed that the BDI failed to accurately capture the disturbing experiences of PPD that she saw in her clinical practice (Lasiuk & Ferguson, 2005). Beck’s grounded theory of PPD involved a sample of women attending her PPD support group over a period of 18 months, and included field notes from the support group meetings and transcriptions of interviews with 12 of the group participants (Lasiuk & Ferguson, 2005). Using constant comparative analysis, Beck identified the basic psychological problem in PPD as being loss of control which the woman experienced as teetering on the edge of insanity (Lasiuk & Ferguson, 2005).
There are several major concepts and definitions that go along with Beck’s theory of PPD. The first concept discusses the differences between postpartum depression, maternity blues, postpartum psychosis, postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder, and postpartum-onset panic disorder (Beck, 2006). The second concept discusses loss of control as the basic psychosocial problem of the PPD of theory (Beck, 2006). Beck proclaims that participants’
They include: (3) prenatal depression, (4) childcare stress, (5) life stress, (6) social support, (7) prenatal anxiety, (8) marital satisfaction, (9) history of depression, (10) infant temperament, (11) maternity blues, (12) self-esteem, (13) socioeconomic status, (14) marital status, (15) unplanned or unwanted pregnancy (Maeve, 2010). Concepts 16 through 22 represent the summarized predictor and risk factors that are used to screen women for symptoms of PPD in the PDSS (Maeve, 2010). They include: (16) sleeping and eating disturbances, (17) anxiety and insecurity, (18) emotional lability, (19) mental confusion, (20) loss of self, (21) guilt and shame, and (22) suicidal thoughts (Maeve,

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