Family Decision-making Processes Research Articles

Factors affecting adolescents' risk-taking in single-child families

Introduction: Given the current concerns about population decline and the prevalence of single-child families, as well as risky behaviors which are increasing in the community, there is a need to provide backgrounds for more information regarding the characteristics of single child and factors affecting the risk-taking of adolescents in these families to modify the risk factors of these in adolescents. Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical study. The sample was single-child adolescents and their parents conducted in the census method. The data collection tools were demographics questionnaires, Iranian adolescents risk-taking, and Baumrind parenting style inventory completed by the participants in health centers of Qazvin, Iran, in 2017–2018. The SPSS software version 24 as well as step-wise multiple linear regression model were used to analyze the data. Results: One hundred and seventeen adolescents aged 12–19 years participated in this study. About 79% of mothers and 69.3% of fathers had high education. Most of the mothers were homemakers (62.9%) and fathers were employees (76.9%). The regression model demonstrated that emotional and social supports reduce risk-taking. If a decision-maker or supervisor for a teenager is someone other than parents, moreover, when the number of meals served by parents is less than twice a day and lack of leisure-time increase the risky behaviors (adjusted R2 = 0.66, P = 0.003). Conclusion: Although many factors affect the risk-taking of adolescents in single-child families, parents can reduce their adolescents' risk-taking by increasing their social and emotional supports, planning for spending more time, and allowing them to participate in family decision-making process.

Children's influence in museum visits: antecedents and consequences

ABSTRACTFamilies are an important target group for museums. To attract them, museum managers use diverse marketing measures when addressing parents. However, children often influence family decision-making processes significantly. This study investigates the determinants and consequences of children's influence on museum visit decisions. Research questions focus on the decision process variations among family groups. Literature on family decision making and family consumption serves as a basis for the conceptual framework. A sample of families visiting a museum (n = 167) is used to conduct a survey. By applying factor and cluster analyses, several profiles are distinguished on the joint basis of children's interaction modes, their expertize, what families are interested in and individual preferences for museum visits. The revealed profiles enable museum managers to segment and target different types of family audiences. Conceptually, the study deepens the focus on family dynamics and widens the perspective on decision-making processes concerning museum visits.

Decision making in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation: Influential factors vary among diseases.

Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is not a trivial treatment decision in pediatrics. We sought to understand what influences this decision-making process from the perspectives of the pediatric patients, their family, and physicians. Using integrative review methods, we identified 19 relevant studies: six qualitative, ten quantitative, and three mixed methods. Synthesis of the results revealed six themes describing patient, family, and provider decision-making processes with distinct subthemes contrasting influential factors among malignant and nonmalignant diseases. Identification of what influences HCT decision making will aid in development of decision support, education, and communication strategies. The child/adolescent voice and provider perspective warrant more attention.

Decision-making dynamics between Spanish mothers, fathers and children

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of mothers, fathers and children in family decision-making (FDM) processes in families with different characteristics in terms of household structure, parents’ resources and family communication styles. As several structural changes regarding families have taken place within the last decades, there is a need to update the theories around FDM – in particular, regarding to the role of women and children.Design/methodology/approachA survey was distributed to 520 individuals in 183 families, where mothers, fathers and children above nine years living at home completed the survey.FindingsThe study demonstrates that the product category largely influences FDM dynamics, as well as housework division, parental characteristics and communication style. The study also reveals that structural changes may put more pressure on mothers. This pressure can partly be relieved if the family encourages children to become independent consumers rather than trying to control their consumption. Moreover, when fathers take a larger part in the housework, traditional gender roles become more fluid.Social implicationsFor policymakers concerned with equality within the family, it may be a better approach to enable fathers to more actively participate in household chores than to try to change behaviour through information about equality.Originality/valueThis study extends the understanding of FDM in contemporary households by taking into account the views of all family members and produces a more complete picture of the decision-making dynamics within families.

Family Decision Making on Cultural Heritage

AkhirPekan@MuseumNasional or Weekend at Museum Nasional is a Sunday family 15-20-minute theatre program organized by a museum consultancy, @Museum, in collaboration with Teater Koma for Indonesia's National Museum. As a follow-up research, it zooms in on the decision-making process which leads to family participation in this cultural heritage appreciation program. Semi-structured interviews in this preliminary qualitative research to families attending the program show that aspiration, prior experience and the roles of mothers contributes to the process. It is hoped that this writing would provide feedbacks to other similar initiatives which promote the appreciation of cultural heritage.

Family Decision Making on Cultural Heritage

AkhirPekan@MuseumNasional or Weekend at Museum Nasional is a Sunday family 15-20-minute theatre program organized by a museum consultancy, @Museum, in collaboration with Teater Koma for Indonesia’s National Museum. As a follow-up research, it zooms in on the decision-making process which leads to family participation in this cultural heritage appreciation program. Semi-structured interviews in this preliminary qualitative research to families attending the program show that aspiration, prior experience and the roles of mothers contributes to the process. It is hoped that this writing would provide feedbacks to other similar initiatives which promote the appreciation of cultural heritage.2398-4279 © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: heritage appreciation; consumer behaviour; family decision-making process; museum learning

Nursing Strategies for Engaging Families of Older Immigrants Hospitalized for End-of-Life Care: An Australian Study.

Background:Engaging with families of older non-English-speaking background (NESB) immigrants hospitalized for end-of-life (EOL) care can be challenging, especially when their cultures, lifeways, and family decision-making processes are unfamiliar to the nurses caring for them. Despite the recognized importance of family engagement when providing EOL care, the issue of ethnic minority family engagement has received little attention in the field.Aim:To explore and describe the strategies nurses use to facilitate engagement with families of older immigrant NESB patients hospitalized for EOL care.Methods:A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Data were collected via in-depth interviews conducted with 22 registered nurses recruited from 4 Australian health services.Findings:Using thematic analysis processes, 5 key strategies were identified: listening and understanding families, encouraging family members to speak first, dealing with angst, redressing naive views about the dying process, and managing intergenerational differences. Underpinning these strategies was a profound “will to engage” with the families and their cultural worldviews.Conclusion:Further cross-cultural comparative research is required to inform evidence-based policies, practice, and education on this issue.

Kids on Board: Exploring the Choice Process and Vacation Needs of Asian Parents With Young Children in Resort Hotels

Vacation needs and the family decision-making processes are well researched in tourism. However, the role and influence of young children on parents’ hotel choice remains sparsely researched in the context of Asian families. This study, hence, examines parents’ choice criteria of resort hotels when holidaying with young children. Fifteen in-depth interviews with parents in Malaysia revealed five main themes: travel distance, quality of interactions, child-friendly amenities, safety, and family-oriented programs. Findings point to the importance of providing specific hotel amenities and services such as baby toilet seats and bottle warmers to create a satisfactory holiday experience. Findings also demonstrate how resorts can add to family quality-of-life by encouraging parent–child interactions through family-oriented activities. In this way, resort hotels are building social capital. Marketing and managerial implications for family-oriented resorts in Malaysia are offered.

Genetic Counseling for Indigenous Australians: an Exploratory Study from the Perspective of Genetic Health Professionals.

Indigenous populations are thought to have particularly low levels of access to genetic health services, and cultural issues may be a contributing factor. This article presents the findings of the first study of genetic health service provision to Indigenous Australians. This qualitative study aimed to identify elements of culturally-competent genetic health service provision in Indigenous Australian contexts. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with genetic counselors and clinical geneticists from around Australia who had delivered services to Indigenous Australians. Participants were asked to describe their experiences and identify any collective cultural needs of Indigenous clients, as well as comment on specific training and resources they had received or used. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed with thematic analysis conducted on the data. The findings show that participants were reluctant to generalize the needs of Indigenous peoples. Some participants asserted that Indigenous peoples have needs that differ from the general population, while others felt that there were no collective cultural needs, instead advocating an individualized approach. Being flexible and practical, taking time to build rapport, recognizing different family structures and decision-making processes, as well as socio-economic disadvantage were all identified as important factors in participants' interactions with Indigenous clients. Indigenous support workers and hospital liaison officers were seen as valuable resources for effective service provision. The implications of this study for training and practice are discussed.

Peer Interaction and Its Influence on Family Purchase Decision: A Study among Indian Teenagers

The paper aims to clarify the impact of Teenager–peer interaction and Enduring Product involvement (measured in terms of pleasure and sign associated with the possession of product) in the family purchase decision for the electronic items. It proposes that how the teenagers interaction with peer have an impact on family decision making process. The study aims to expand the domain of Consumer (family/Household) decision making by including a broader range of teenagers influence and the product involvement in day to day life. The study is based on the teenagers influence in the family’s purchase decision making in the purchase of electronic items. The study was done in India. A sample of 230 students has been taken. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) has been used for analysis. The paper provides a significant relationship among Teen-peer interaction and family purchase decision making process. As per the findings of this paper we conclude that the more the teenagers interact with peer, the more they contribute in the initiation stage of the family decision-making process. Similarly the teenager’s enduring involvement (measured in terms of pleasure) construct have a significant influence on the final decision making i.e. it significantly explains teen’s contribution to the purchase decision.

The right to literacy and cultural change: Zulu adolescents in post-apartheid rural South Africa

This study examined the conceptions of the right to literacy of rural Zulu adolescents in post-apartheid South Africa. Its aim was to investigate the development of human rights in a traditional society during an era of historic change. Adolescents in three age groups (N=72, mean ages 11-1, 15-9, and 18-9) endorsed the right to literacy in principle. In nine conflict assessments involving the preservation of culture, parental authority, and gender roles, participants supported the right to literacy (64–100%), but also maintained traditional values of respect and duties of elder care. Twenty-four percent proposed novel concepts integrating the right to literacy with indigenous practices such as family decision-making processes. These findings suggest that conceptions of rights and collectivistic values need not be antagonistic. It is argued that analyses of the ontogenesis, cultural practices, and historical settings of conceptions of human rights are integral to resolving questions of universality.

Do community-based rehabilitation programmes promote the participation of persons with disabilities? A case control study from Mandya District, in India

Purpose: In this paper, we measure the effectiveness of Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes in promoting the well-being of people with disabilities and removing the barriers to their participation in family and community decision-making processes. Method: To evaluate the impact of the CBR programme, we use data from a large-scale control study in Karnataka, India. Propensity score matching is used to evaluate the impacts on disabled persons after 2, 4 and 7 years of entering the CBR. The theoretical framework for the analysis is based on the CBR guidelines, which are combined with the International Classification of Functionings (ICF), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and Amartya Sen’s capability approach. Results: CBR has a positive impact on the well-being of persons with disabilities participating in the programme and particularly on their participation within the family and the society at large. Conclusions: CBR programmes have a multidimensional and positive impact on individual and collective capabilities; on individual, agency and social empowerment.Implications for RehabilitationCommunity-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) can make a lasting difference in the life of persons with disabilities.CBR improves participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the family and in the community.

Do family members agree on family purchase decision? – an empirical study among families in Hong Kong

AbstractFamily decision making is one of the most important consumer decisions. It is complicated because all family members can be involved in the decision‐making process. The current study examined the impact of perceived buying preferences of individual family member on perceived family buying preferences. A new family decision‐making model with family members’ buying preference is proposed based on resources theory, social learning theory and family system theory. It is found that there is a synergy effect in a family decision‐making process. The synergy effect is expressed as positive correlations between individual family members buying preferences. Quota sampling was adopted to collect primary data in Hong Kong using triadic approach. Managerial implications and future research directions are suggested.

Family Members’ Informal Roles in End-of-Life Decision Making in Adult Intensive Care Units

To support the process of effective family decision making, it is important to recognize and understand informal roles that various family members may play in the end-of-life decision-making process. To describe some informal roles consistently enacted by family members involved in the process of end-of-life decision making in intensive care units. Ethnographic study. Data were collected via participant observation with field notes and semistructured interviews on 4 intensive care units in an academic health center in the mid-Atlantic United States from 2001 to 2004. The units studied were a medical, a surgical, a burn and trauma, and a cardiovascular intensive care unit. Health care clinicians, patients, and family members. Informal roles for family members consistently observed were primary caregiver, primary decision maker, family spokesperson, out-of-towner, patient's wishes expert, protector, vulnerable member, and health care expert. The identified informal roles were part of families' decision-making processes, and each role was part of a potentially complicated family dynamic for end-of-life decision making within the family system and between the family and health care domains. These informal roles reflect the diverse responses to demands for family decision making in what is usually a novel and stressful situation. Identification and description of these informal roles of family members can help clinicians recognize and understand the functions of these roles in families' decision making at the end of life and guide development of strategies to support and facilitate increased effectiveness of family discussions and decision-making processes.

Who should make the decision on the use of GPS for people with dementia?

Objectives: In recent years advanced technologies, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), allow for tracking of human spatial activity and provide the ability to intervene to manage that activity. The purpose of this study is to examine the issue of who should decide about the use of electronic tracking using GPS for people with dementia. Methods: Based on quantitative data collected from 296 participants comprising cognitively intact elderly, family caregivers of people with dementia, social workers, other professionals, and social work students, study participants were asked to rate nine different potential decision-makers to make this decision. Results: The results show that figures inside the family, particularly the spouse or the most involved family caregiver, were perceived more important in the decision-making process than figures outside the family, whereas the person with dementia was ranked third in the order of the figures. Since the decision to use GPS for tracking raises the ethical dilemma of personal safety versus autonomy and privacy of people with dementia, the findings seem to indicate that the reluctance of professional caregivers to assist family caregivers to make this decision is experienced as frustrating. Conclusions: The findings imply that in order to reach a balance between the wishes and interests of both people with dementia and their family caregivers, there is a need for more active involvement of the professional caregivers to facilitate the family decision-making process.

Family legacy and female entrepreneurs: insights from Nigeria

Analysis based on primary data shows that Female Entrepreneurs (FEs) from self-employed parental households display taste for risk-taking and selecting businesses in which risk factors are considered to be higher as well. They are also of a competitive nature, holding the belief that they have the requisite skills for their chosen businesses and that they would still be in such a position even if they were not making enough profit. Their decision to be in business is based on clever judgement and reading of the market, and accordingly making the first move. FEs do so to have a sense of self-independence and achievement, to earn extra income and to build equity for retirement. The family legacy factor is considered significant, as many seem to choose the business owing to the fact that not only it is peculiar to their family, but also because it will enable them to be involved in the family decision-making process.

Understanding the strategic decisions women make in farming families

Decision-systems theory (DST) was developed from in-depth interviews with farming families and provides an interpretation of the processes farming families use in making strategic decisions in regard to the family members, the farm and the businesses the farming family run. Understanding the nature and justifications used for different decisions can help farming families improve their strategic decision making. When combined with the 4-group stakeholder model, DST can help policy developers appreciate what kinds of policies are most likely to influence the decisions farming families make. Family decisions are a result of ongoing negotiation processes within the family. An additional set of interviews with farming women provided insight into women's contributions to family decision-making processes. Their contributions are discussed in terms of the concept of lenses which is one of five concepts in DST. Women make particular contributions in four of the five lenses in the concept for lenses. This leads to the conclusions that, in terms of improving the technical and economic aspects of farming, policy developers should develop new pathways of providing relevant information to women farmers. And, in terms of implementing sustainable development ideals to improve future rural livelihoods, policy developers ought to work closely with farming women as their contribution to strategic decisions in this area is very important.

The changing intra-household resource allocation in Russia

During the transition period, Russian workers witnessed important changes in their real earnings. In the process, the wage gap between men and women has varied wildly and the family decision-making process may have been significantly altered. To investigate this issue, we estimate a collective labour supply model using data from the RLMS. The specification allows the sharing rule to change in a discrete manner between the pre- and post-1998 financial crisis. Our results indicate that the parameters of the sharing-rule have shifted to a new equilibrium in the post-1998 period. Indeed, when their relative wage increases, husbands (wives) transfer relatively less (more) to their spouse than was previously the case.

The Role of Children in Family Decision Making a Theoretical Review

Family is the basic unit where most individuals learn about product categories, how to consume it, and soon. So, understanding family buying behavior is very important. It used to be that husband and wife hold dominant influence family decision-making process. However, now, their role is changing. Today, children’s role in family decision-making process is also significant today. Their influence relates to a wide variety of products needed by their family, or not just to the items that directly relate to their need, such as toys or foods. This means that, to market successfully to the children, marketers must understand children’s buying decision making process and what media that can be used to socialize their products to them. Key words: family decision-making, children’s role in family decision making, consumer socialization.

Metasynthesis: withdrawing life‐sustaining treatments: the experience of family decision‐makers

The present study was undertaken to synthesise findings from qualitative investigations of family participation in decisions to withdraw and/or withhold life-sustaining treatment from a seriously ill family member. As a consequence of increasing effectiveness and sophistication of available medical interventions, death is commonly preceded by a decision to withdraw or withhold potentially life-sustaining treatments. These decisions take place in a bioethical context characterised by the pre-eminence of self-determination, but patients are typically too ill to make their own decisions. Thus, family members are called upon to participate in these morally consequential decisions on the patient's behalf. Metasynthesis. Metasynthesis is a form of inquiry that provides for integration of qualitative studies' findings to strengthen knowledge for practice and advance theoretical development. This metasynthesis was conducted using the constant comparative methods of grounded theory. Family members engage in a process of participation in decision-making that is comprised of three major categories: reframing reality, relating and integrating. Surrogates used both cues and information as they reframed their understanding of the patient's status. Relationships with providers and with other family members powerfully influenced the decision-making process. Integrating was characterised by reconciling and going forward. This part of the process has both intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects and describes how family decision-makers find meaning in their experience and move forward in their lives. This synthesis provides a more comprehensive and empirically supported understanding of family members' experiences as they participate in treatment decisions for dying family members. Relevance to clinical practice. This metasynthesis provides evidence to improve family care during treatment withdrawal/withholding decision-making and a theoretical model that can be used to guide creation of clinical practice guidelines. Through increased understanding of family members' experiences, clinicians can more effectively support family decision-making processes.