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Control Parents (control + parent)
Selected AbstractsPiloting a psycho-education program for parents of pediatric cancer patients in MalaysiaPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Azizah Othman Abstract Objective: To evaluate a psycho-educational program (PeP) for parents of children with cancer (PoCwC) in Malaysia. Methods: Seventy-nine parents were invited to be either in an intervention (n=41) or a control group (n=38). Baseline assessment took place upon agreement of participation. Short-term effects were measured four weeks after the intervention. Control parents received standard care. Intervention parents received, in addition to standard care, 4×50,min sessions of information on childhood cancer and coping strategies. Results: Repeated measures of ANOVAs revealed increased knowledge about cancer (p=0.01) in the intervention parents compared with standard care. Intervention parents reported reduced anxiety and increased activities with children after the program; however, differences were not significant. Conclusions: This PeP, the first of its kind in Malaysia, has significantly increased levels of knowledge among parents of seriously ill children which may point towards the potential for these services to increase coping in Malaysian PoCwC. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Profiles of executive function in parents and siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disordersGENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2006D. Wong Delineation of a cognitive endophenotype for autism is useful both for exploring the genetic mechanisms underlying the disorder and for identifying which cognitive traits may be primary to it. This study investigated whether first-degree relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) demonstrate a specific profile of performance on a range of components of executive function (EF), to determine whether EF deficits represent possible endophenotypes for autism. Parents and siblings of ASD and control probands were tested on EF tasks measuring planning, set-shifting, inhibition and generativity. ASD parents showed poorer performance than control parents on a test of ideational fluency or generativity, and ASD fathers demonstrated a weakness in set-shifting to a previously irrelevant dimension. ASD siblings revealed a mild reduction in ideational fluency and a weakness in non-verbal generativity when compared with control siblings. Neither ASD parents nor siblings displayed significant difficulties with planning or inhibition. These results indicated that the broad autism phenotype may not be characterized primarily by impairments in planning and cognitive flexibility, as had been previously proposed. Weaknesses in generativity emerged as stronger potential endophenotypes in this study, suggesting that this aspect of EF should play a central role in cognitive theories of autism. However, discrepancies in the EF profile demonstrated by parents and siblings suggest that factors related to age or parental responsibility may affect the precise pattern of deficits observed. [source] "Ghosts in the Nursery:" Infant sleep and sleep-related cognitions of parents raised under communal sleeping arrangementsINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010Liat Tikotzky In an experiment of nature, a normal cohort of parents who were raised under communal sleeping arrangements (CSA) in Israeli kibbutzim are raising their infants at home under home-based family sleeping arrangements. The present study focused on exploring the links between the early sleep experiences of CSA parents and their present sleep-related beliefs and behaviors. In particular, the study assessed whether the cognitions of CSA parents regarding infant sleep differ from cognitions of parents who were raised under home-based family sleeping arrangements. Furthermore, parental soothing methods and infant sleep patterns were compared. One hundred forty-one families participated in this study. The children's ages ranged between 4.5 to 30 months. Parental cognitions were evaluated by two questionnaires. Infant sleep was assessed by a questionnaire and by daily parental reports. As expected, CSA parents were more likely than were control parents to: (a) interpret infant night wakings as a sign of distress and (b) actively soothe their infants at bedtime, co-sleep with them, and report more night wakings of their infants. These findings support the hypothesis that early childhood sleep-related experiences of parents ("Ghosts in the Nursery") influence their parental sleep-related cognitions that in turn affect infant sleep patterns. [source] Relationships Among Risk, Sense of Coherence, and Well-Being in Parents of Children With and Without Intellectual DisabilitiesJOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2008Malin B. Olsson ABSTRACT The authors studied the nature and function of the relationships of the comparative level of risk, sense of coherence (SOC), and well-being, over time, in mothers and fathers of preschool children with and without intellectual disabilities (IDs). The hypothesis that SOC functions as a moderator between risk and well-being was tested. Parents of children with IDs (mothers: n = 62 (46 at follow-up) and fathers: n = 49 (37 at follow-up)) and control parents (mothers: n = 178 (131 at follow-up) and fathers: n = 141 (97 at follow-up)) answered self-report measures on risk factors (i.e., child behavior problems, negative impact on the family and socioeconomic situation) and sense of coherence. Well-being and quality of life were used as outcomes, and were measured at baseline and at a one-year follow-up. The hypothesis of moderation was tested conducting multiple linear regression analyses. The level of well-being was moderately stable over the two time points, with parents of children with ID having lower level of well-being than control parents both initially and after one year. Well-being was also related to level of SOC and cumulative risk with parents experiencing lower SOC or more risk also reporting lower well-being. The hypothesis of SOC acting as a moderator in the relation between cumulative risk and well-being found some support in the longitudinal analyses, but only for well-being (BDI-2r) among control mothers. [source] Effective Methods to Improve Recruitment and Retention in School-Based Substance Use Prevention StudiesJOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 9 2009Jean-Marie Bruzzese PhD ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Poor recruitment and high attrition may invalidate results of research studies. This paper describes successful recruitment and retention strategies in a school-based substance use prevention trial and explores factors associated with intervention attendance and retention. METHODS: A total of 384 parent-child dyads from 15 schools in the New York Metropolitan area participated in a control trial, testing the efficacy of parent-training to prevent youth substance use. Assessments were completed immediately post-intervention and 6-, 12-, and 24-month postintervention. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine which familial and study characteristics predicted attendance in the intervention and retention by parents and youth. RESULTS: 84% of intervention parents attended 4 of the 5 workshops; 83% of control parents attended their single workshop. Intervention attendance was predicted by parent job status, but this was not significant after controlling for other family factors. Retention rates ranged from 87% to 91% over the 2 years. No family characteristics predicted retention, but time since baseline and attendance at treatment workshops and the control workshop did. For children, age at baseline and ethnicity predicted retention, but this did not remain significant in the adjusted model. CONCLUSION: Intervention attendance was high and retention rates far exceeded the minimum standard of 70% retention in behavioral studies. Recruitment and retention strategies were effective for different family constellations. Efforts to maximize participation in both treatment and control interventions are critical to retention in longitudinal trials. [source] Allergy and infectious disease histories and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemiaPAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Paula F. Rosenbaum Summary Infectious disease histories were evaluated in a population-based case-control study of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) as it has been hypothesised that delays in early infections are associated with an increased risk of disease. Allergy histories were also assessed as part of a broader evaluation of the role of immune factors in ALL. Cases (n = 255) were diagnosed between 1980 and 1991 at one of four referral centres in a 31-county area of New York State; controls (n = 760) were a random sample of live births from the same region, frequency matched to cases by sex, race and birth year. Data were collected by mailed questionnaire, completed by case and control parents in 1995. Allergy and infectious histories before the age at leukaemia diagnosis for cases and an equivalent age for controls were evaluated. The adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence interval [CI] associated with a positive history of any allergy was 0.58 [95% CI 0.38, 0.88] compared with a negative allergy history. The occurrence of several common childhood illnesses before 25 months of age and ALL were assessed, with both weak positive and weak inverse associations observed. Overall, these analyses provide little support for the hypothesis that infection delay in early life is associated with an increased risk of ALL. Children with positive allergy histories reported significantly more infections than those with negative histories; however, effect modification of the infection-ALL associations by child allergy history was not observed. Nonetheless, these observations suggest the importance of assessing both allergy and infectious histories and their possible interactions when evaluating the association between these immune factors and childhood ALL. [source] Social-cognition and the broad autism phenotype: identifying genetically meaningful phenotypesTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 1 2007Molly Losh Background:, Strong evidence from twin and family studies suggests that the genetic liability to autism may be expressed through personality and language characteristics qualitatively similar, but more subtly expressed than those defining the full syndrome. This study examined behavioral features of this ,broad autism phenotype' (BAP) in relation to performance on a measure of social-cognition in an attempt to tease out this complex clinical picture and identify markers of underlying neuropsychological systems of genetic significance to autism. We hypothesized that mild social-cognitive impairment would be associated with clinically defined social characteristics of the BAP (aloof personality style, lower quality social relationships, and impaired pragmatic language use). Method:, Forty-eight parents of individuals with autism (13 of whom were identified as ,aloof'), and 22 control parents, were administered the ,Eyes Test', a social-cognitive measure that taps the ability to read complex psychological states from viewing only the eye region of faces. Results:, Whereas social-cognitive ability was unimpaired among parents of autistic children in general, the subgroup of parents defined as ,aloof' displayed significant social-cognitive deficits on the ,Eyes Test'. Impaired social-cognitive ability was associated with low quality of friendships and problems with pragmatic language use, associations which mirror those documented in autism. Conclusions: Findings suggest that social-cognitive impairments co-segregate with conceptually related personality, social, and language features that constitute the BAP, and point towards performance on the Eyes Test as a genetically meaningful endophenotype. [source] Low-birthweight adolescents: Quality of life and parent,child relationsACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 9 2005Marit S. Indredavik Abstract Aim: To explore the effect of low birthweight on quality of life, the parent,child relationship and the parents' mental health. Design/study groups: A population-based follow-up of 56 very-low-birthweight (1500 g), 60 term small-for-gestational-age (birthweight <10th centile) and 83 term control adolescents (birthweight10th centile) at 14 y of age. Outcome measures: Child Health Questionnaire (Child Form, Parent Form), Parental Bonding Instrument rated by adolescents and parents; Symptom Checklist-90-Revised rated by mothers and fathers. Results: There were no group differences in self-reported health or self-esteem. Parents reported more behavioural problems and lower psychosocial health for very-low-birthweight adolescents (p<0.001) compared with controls. Results did not differ significantly between small-for-gestational-age and control adolescents. The youngsters, their mothers and fathers perceived the same amount of relational warmth in all three groups. Very-low-birthweight parents reported more emotional impact than control parents, especially in the presence of psychiatric problems and cerebral palsy. There were no group differences in mothers' or fathers' mental health. Conclusion: The low-birthweight adolescents perceived quality of life as others did, but the parents reported functional disadvantages for the very-low-birthweight group. Birthweight did not influence the warmth in the parent,child relationship. Parents of very-low-birthweight adolescents experienced increased emotional burden, but they did not have more mental health problems than others. [source] | ||||||||||