Jane M. Kirkpatrick, RNC, MSN, experienced in neonatal and obstetric nursing, is an assistant professor of nursing at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Jackie Alexander, RN, BS, is a staff nurse in obstetrics at Carle Foundation Hospital, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Roxanna M. Cain, RN, BS, is a staff nurse in obstetrics at Culver Union Hospital, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
The authors thank Procter & Gamble, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, for providing Ultra Pampers and Pampers Thick; the Delta Omicron Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau for a grant that partially funded the study; Xianglian Tang, PhD, Meesook Kim, PhD, and Carol Blue, RN, PhD, all from Purdue University, for their statistical support; Roselle Partridge, RNC, from James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana, for her overall support; and Sharon Wilkerson, RN, PhD, from Purdue University, for her help with the manuscript.
The authors also acknowledge the pivotal role MCN has played: After first presenting the pilot project at the MCN national convention, "Forging Connections," in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1991 and receiving feedback from attendees, we presented the final study in a poster session at the MCN national convention, "Riding the Winds of Change," in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1995.
