Iceberg Attachment for Infants The concept analysis article reviewed in this document is "Attachment icebergs: Maternal and child health nurses' evaluation of infant-caregiver attachment" by Bryant et al. This article explores salient phenomena pertaining to the concept of infant attachment. However, it analyzes this phenomena from the perspective of nurses who are observing and working with infants and caregivers. The researchers were essentially attempting to solicit information from the nurses to explicate the phenomena of infant attachment, while determining what factors proved the most influential in this occurrence. As such, the researchers were able to glean a fair amount of insight not only about infant attachment, but about how to best treat it. Additional insight was also gleaned into factors that were germane to the nurses who observed infant attachment and who attempted to mitigate it with various degrees of success.

Method of Analysis

The method of analysis revolved around qualitative analysis of nurses employed in the maternal and child health segment of this profession. These nurses gave semi-structured interviews about their experience with infant-caregiver attachment. In this respect they were valuable subject matter experts because they observe this phenomena more frequently than others do. The focus of the interview was on the different facets of nursing that nurses relied upon while observing and interacting with children who experience infant...

These included various nursing skills required, as well as eminent thoughts and perceptions about their jobs in regards to this issue. From a more pragmatic standpoint, these interviews were recorded and transcribed. The basis for the majority of the interview questions stemmed from the Infant Mental Health and Carer Responsiveness Framework. They were analyzed with software and augmented via conventional note-taking to elucidate themes that were recurring. Specifically, the analysis involved "coding and team-thematic analysis" in addition to NVivo data analysis software...to organize and manage data and assist with analysis" (Bryant et al., 2016, p. 49).
Apply the Concept to a Practice Situation

The analysis of infant attachment to caregiver resulted in the aforementioned themes. Nonetheless, each of those themes themselves was tied to a more prominent concept, the parallel between the markers for attachment and an actual iceberg. This parallel means that it is fairly obvious to see the indication signs of attachment between an infant and his or her caregiver. Similarly, it is fairly easy to spot the tip of an iceberg which protrudes from the ocean. However, both these indicators and the tip of the iceberg are merely signs of the fact that there are greater, underlying issues at work. It is not sufficient merely to address the symptoms or the indicators; nursing personnel must, instead, see those signs as implications that they have to address the deeper, underlying issues associated with infant-attachment.

This iceberg concept is readily applicable to other practice situations with nurses. For instance, nurses working in the field of geriatrics may find that they have a particular patient who is surly and disagreeable regarding advice for healthcare. Some nurses might think it is sufficient to simply force the patient to implement their salutary guidelines. However,…