Family Education Program Research Articles

Healthy Homes University: A Home-Based Environmental Intervention and Education Program for Families with Pediatric Asthma in Michigan

Environmental conditions within the home can exacerbate asthmatic children's symptoms. To improve health outcomes among this group, we implemented an in-home environmental public health program-Healthy Homes University--for low-income families in Lansing, Michigan, from 2005 to 2008. Families received four visits during a six-month intervention. Program staff assessed homes for asthma triggers and subsequently provided products and services to reduce exposures to cockroaches, dust mites, mold, tobacco smoke, and other triggers. We also provided asthma education that included identification of asthma triggers and instructions on specific behaviors to reduce exposures. Based on self-reported data collected from 243 caregivers at baseline and six months, the impact of asthma on these children was substantially reduced, and the proportion who sought acute unscheduled health care for their asthma decreased by more than 47%.

THE KIDS' TURN PROGRAM EVALUATION: PROBING CHANGE WITHIN A COMMUNITY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR SEPARATING FAMILIES

We provide evaluation results for Kids' Turn, a community-based divorcing parent education program. Based on pre- and post-test results from 61 parents, we found that parents reported improvements over time in interparental conflict, the number of topics parents argue about, parental alienation behaviors, parent anxiety and depression, and children's internalizing behaviors. These changes over time remained after we accounted for child sex, parent and child age, and time since separation. However, we did not observe any change in parenting behaviors. We discuss these results in light of factors influencing the ability of community-based programs to affect change in families after divorce. Over the past three decades, considerable change has occurred in knowledge about the implications of parent divorce for the social, emotional, and cognitive adjustment of children and parents. In the 1970s and early 1980s, research emerged to document that children of divorce are at increased risk for a number of deleterious outcomes and are at double the risk for developing a mental health disorder as compared to their peers from nondivorced families. Later, in the 1980s and early 1990s, attention was dedicated to the risk and protective factors associated with the divorce experience. Finally, a number of randomized field trial preventive intervention programs were developed and tested for efficacy in an attempt to help families ameliorate the supposed negative effects of divorce for children. Presently, however, few of the programs that have been evaluated for efficacy are currently available in the community (Wolchik, Sandler, Winslow, & Smith-Daniels, 2005). Further, efficacy results for community-based programs that serve divorcing families tend to lack evaluation data. This paper reviews the literature described above and introduces Kids' Turn, a divorcing family education program that has been offered in the San Francisco Bay Area continuously since 1988. This manu- script reports change over time within a sample of families who had participated in the Kids' Turn program and observed reductions in conflict intensity and breadth, parent rejection of child behavior, and parent anxiety and depression. These results are the first to provide evidence of change within participants in a community-based divorcing family education program. fcre_1376 348..363

‘I wanted to learn how to heal my heart’: Family carer experiences of receiving an emotional support service in the Well Ways programme

Family carers of people with mental illness provide an immense contribution to society in caring for mental health consumers. However, carers can experience substantial burdens and poor health outcomes themselves. Recognition of their needs for education and support has led to the development of a range of family education programmes. Throughout Australia, the Mental Illness Fellowship Australia offers the Well Ways programme, a group-based, family-to-family, education programme that provides information and aims to increase carers' capacity to care effectively for themselves, their families, and the mental health consumers. This paper describes a qualitative evaluation of an emotional support service piloted in a Well Ways programme in rural Queensland, Australia. The pilot service comprised individual emotional support offered to family carers attending the weekly Well Ways group education programme. Six of eight family carers who received the emotional support engaged in semistructured interviews exploring their experience of receiving the support. Three themes emerged from their experience: dealing with difficult times, connecting through shared experience, and exploring different options. Family carers found the emotional support beneficial, and reported that it enhanced their capacity to manage their own well-being, as well as their caregiving roles.

An Evaluation of Well Ways, a Family Education Programme for Carers of People with a Mental Illness

Family education programmes aim to improve the well-being of carers of people with a mental illness. We evaluated the effectiveness of one such programme, Well Ways, in reducing negative care-giving consequences. We employed a pre-post design to evaluate the effectiveness of Well Ways in a naturalistic setting using a sample of carers of people with a mental illness. The Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire, a measure of care-giving consequences including worrying, tension, urging and supervision, and incorporating the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), was completed by 459 carers before and after participation in Well Ways. Participants' worrying, tension, urging and distress (GHQ-12) were significantly lower following completion of the programme. These improvements were maintained at 3 and 6 month follow up. Carers of people with a psychotic disorder experienced significantly greater reductions in worrying than did other carers. Females reported significantly greater reductions in tension than did males. Findings indicated support for the effectiveness of the Well Ways programme in reducing negative care-giving consequences for families of people with a mental illness. Given the evidence of poor psychological health and negatively appraised family relationships observed at baseline, these findings highlight the need for programmes such as Well Ways.

Reports from the Field: The Family and Child Education (FACE) Program and School Readiness: A Structural Model Approach in an American Indian Reservation Context

Reports from the Field: The Family and Child Education (FACE) Program and School Readiness: A Structural Model Approach in an American Indian Reservation Context

A Study on Cognition and Policy of Shutdown System of Adolescent

Recently, the side effects from the online game is appearing to adolescent to serious level. This research studied the system to protect adolescent from excessive game usage, the system to limit an online game service connection at the midnight time. Namely we found at a shutdown system introduction of adolescent out about cognition, problems with the game poisoning and effects with shutdown system and alternative policy. The investigation results were as follows. First, only 17.5% of adolescent knew a shutdown system. Second, they were recognizing about the game poisoning seriously. Also the half degree thought them efficiently about a shutdown system introduction. The policy about a shutdown system introduction were as follows. First, public education is activate, and we must keep adolescent from exposing to private education in the entrance examine competition. Second, we need the thing to increase the conversation time of the children with put parents to develop desirable family education program. Lastly, the supply must be achieved with leisure culture contents development of adolescent.

Stomach cancer screening and preventive behaviors in relatives of gastric cancer patients

To investigate gastric cancer screening and preventive behaviors among the relatives of patients with gastric cancer [i.e., gastric cancer relatives (GCRs)]. We examined the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 (KNHANES III) database and compared the gastric cancer screening and preventive behaviors of GCRs (n = 261) with those of non-GCRs (n = 454) and controls without a family history of cancer (n = 2842). The GCRs were more likely to undergo gastric cancer screening compared with the control group (39.2% vs 32.3%, adjusted odds ratio: 1.43, CI: 1.05-1.95), although the absolute screening rate was low. Dietary patterns and smoking rates did not differ significantly between the groups, and a high proportion of GCRs reported inappropriate dietary habits (i.e., approximately 95% consumed excessive sodium, 30% were deficient in vitamin C, and 85% were deficient in dietary fiber). The gastric cancer screening and preventive behaviors of GCRs have yet to be improved. To increase awareness among GCRs, systematic family education programs should be implemented.

Implementation of a guideline for pressure ulcer prevention in home care: pretest–post‐test study

To investigate the effect of the implementation of a patient and family education programme for pressure ulcer prevention in an organisation for home care nursing on guideline adherence and on prevalence and severity of pressure ulcers and to examine the determining factors for the application of measures for pressure ulcer prevention. Quality improvement programmes in pressure ulcer prevention are not always successful. Implementation study using a pretest-post-test design. Data were collected in three probability samples. The first post-test data collection was held after six months, the second after 18 months. Statistical analysis was used, comparing the pretest sample and the second post-test sample. After 18 months, the proportion of subjects with adherent measures had increased from 10·4-13·9%, the proportion of subjects with non-adherent measures decreased from 45·7-36·0%, the proportion of subjects without pressure ulcer prevention increased from 43·9-50·1% (p<0·0001, Chi-square test). Sub-analysis revealed that a positive change in guideline adherence was observed principally in the group at risk. Better process-of-care indicators were associated by lower pressure ulcer prevalence and less severe skin lesions. The nurses' judgement of a patient risk status was the most important factor for applying preventive measures. Furthermore, application of pressure ulcer prevention was determined by higher age (from the age category of 70-79 years), higher dependency for the activities of daily living, higher than baseline mobility score and the presence of a pressure ulcer. Guideline adherence in pressure ulcer prevention changed significantly after implementation of the education programme. There might have been inconsistencies in the nurses' risk judgement. Quality of pressure ulcer prevention improved, but several items for improvement remain. Adaptation of risk assessment procedures is needed.

Forming a Solid Foundation for Patient Education Through Collaboration

This article reviews the development of a patient and family education program through the collaboration of a broad range of people and departments at the University of Virginia Health System. The implementation of a patient education materials repository, and a Web site developed to provide information on effective patient communication across cultures, are described, along with activities designed to promote health literacy at the Health System and in the community.

Facilitating Vocabulary Acquisition of Young English Language Learners

This study examined whether English-only vocabulary instruction or English vocabulary instruction enhanced with Spanish bridging produced greater word learning in young Spanish-speaking children learning English during a storybook reading intervention while considering individual language characteristics. Twenty-two Spanish-speaking children learning English (ages 4-6) who participated in a summer education program for migrant families were randomly assigned to receive 2 weeks of each instruction: (a) word expansions in English or (b) English readings with word expansions in Spanish. Researcher-created measures of target vocabulary were administered, as were English and Spanish standardized measures of language proficiency and vocabulary. Results revealed significant improvement in naming, receptive knowledge, and expressive definitions for those children who received Spanish bridging. Spanish expansions produced the greatest gains in the children's use of expressive definitions. Initial language proficiency in both languages was found to affect participants' gains from intervention, as those with limited skills in both languages showed significantly less vocabulary growth than those with strong skills in Spanish. Additional benefits to using Spanish expansions in vocabulary instruction were observed. Future research should explore additional ways of enhancing the vocabulary growth of children with limited skills in both languages in order to support and strengthen the child's first language and promote second language acquisition.

다문화가족을 위한 가족통합교육 프로그램개발과 평가

The purpose of the study is to integrate multi-cultural families with special needs and situations into family living and Korean social groups. Nowadays there has been an increase in the number of international marriages. According to these changes, there are a variety of social problems such as cultural conflicts, domestic violence, difficulty in communication, and bad relationships between family members because of misunderstandings. These social problems can be alleviated by a family integration education program for multi-cultural families. This program was developed in order to help immigrant women in their initial settlement and to provide them with information on mutual culture of family living. The contents of the program consist of how to live a harmonious, understanding and hopeful family life. The method of evaluation is to survey the immigrant women's self esteem and conduct an interview. The results of the evaluation are to promote a positive relationship between family members. Also the family agreed to promote favorable sentiments toward each other. The program also had meaningful consequences for the improvement of the immigrants' realistic expectation of marriage and conflict resolution skills. I am hopeful that more elaborate programs for multi-cultural families will be developed in order to maximize the effect with appropriate education and support systems.

Building national capacity for child and family disaster mental health research.

Disaster mental health is a burgeoning field with numerous opportunities for professional involvement in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Research is essential to advance professional understanding of risk and protective factors associated with disaster outcomes; to develop an evidence base for acute, intermediate, and long-term mental health approaches to address child, adult, family, and community disaster-related needs; and to inform policy and guide national and local disaster preparedness, response, and recovery programs. To address the continued need for research in this field, we created the Child & Family Disaster Research Training & Education (DRT) program, which is focused specifically on enhancing national capacity to conduct disaster mental health research related to children, a population particularly vulnerable to disaster trauma. This paper describes the structure and organization of the DRT program, reviews the training curriculum, discusses implementation and evaluation of the program, and reviews obstacles encountered in establishing the program. Finally, key lessons learned are reviewed for the purpose of guiding replication of the DRT model to address other areas of community mental health.

A sample parent training programme: group training

The ultimate purpose of education is to bring up kids to become productive, self-sufficient and independently-functioning individuals in the society. This can be done through family education programs presented systematically. Parent training programs may be planned considering various factors such as the number of participants, the place where the training will be held and the objectives of the program. According to the number of the people participating in the program, parent training programs can be organized as group and/or one-to-one training sessions. Before the organization of the sessions concerning parent training programs for groups or one to one sessions, parents’ needs and objectives of the parent training program should be constructed as well on the teaching materials which will support the education process.

Family Together: Developing a Family Educational Program against Drug Abuse in Taipei County

Adolescent drug abuse has become a serious problem in Taiwan. Therefore, the main purpose of this research was to develop a program for the high-risk adolescents and their parents to prevent adolescent substance abuse in Taipei County, Taiwan. The program named ”Family Together” focused on emotional management, communication, and adolescent substance abuse prevention. The features of the research include Family-based program, Evaluation, Alliance, Science-based, and Training (FEAST). Fifty high-risk students and thirty-four parents from three junior high schools in Taipei County participated in the program. The program includes six steps which are draw-up, coordination, training, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. The Family Together program had been found to be effective. The program could improve the attitudes toward and knowledge of communication and the knowledge and skills regarding prevention of adolescent substance abuse among the parents. In addition, the program could improve the knowledge of and attitudes toward emotional management and communication, knowledge of substance abuse, and willingness to use refusal skills among the adolescents. The future efforts might focus on strengthening seed-teacher training program and involving general community adolescents and their parents to participate the program. Furthermore, suggestions for government to promote family-based program are also provided.

Pflegebedürfnisse nierentransplantierter Jugendlicher: eine deskriptive Querschnittstudie in einem Schweizer Spital

Various studies have demonstrated that the five-year graft survival of adolescents after renal transplantation is significantly lower than in children. This may be due to poor adherence to the post-transplant regime in adolescents. It has been shown that nurses can provide support to renal transplanted adolescents with positive effects on their adherence. The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to gain knowledge about important topics of nurses' support to adolescent renal transplant patients. Twenty-seven adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years were interviewed and given a questionnaire based on a focus group discussion. Each of the provided 43 topics was rated on its importance. Results showed that responses corresponding to the judgment "very important" ranged from 20 % to 100 %. Information about illness and therapy was given highest priority, followed by the provision of support services as well as information and the support of planning and managing the personal way of living. These topics can be seen as a set of relevant variables that may be used for focused assessment, and for planning of nursing interventions. With regard to clinical practice it is necessary to develop nursing strategies and patient and family education programs based on the results of this study.

Outpatient administration of high-dose methotrexate for osteosarcoma treatment in Brazil

10038 Background: We describe the experience with outpatient administration of high dose methotrexate (HDMTX) and leucovorin rescue for osteosarcoma treatment at Instituto de Oncologia Pediátrica. Methods: HDMTX (12g/m2) is administered as part of the Brazilian Osteosarcoma Treatment Group Protocol in an ambulatory basis. Daily MTX serum levels and fluid controls follows until the serum level is &lt;0,2 μ/L. Families were oriented to measure urinary pH and volume, PO intake and to adjust leucovorin dose as needed. To achieve treatment adherence, a family education program was developed. Concomitantly to HD chemotherapy, low dose oral cyclophosphamide and MTX (metronomic treatment) were provided to metastatic (M) patients. This is a retrospective analysis of the HDMTX courses administered between 2006 and 2008. Results: Out of 341 HDMTX infusions, administered to 42 patients, 42.5% had abnormal serum levels at hour 24, 8.8% at hour 48 and 33.2% at hour 72. After required interventions, 2.9% (n = 8) had serum levels &gt;0.2 μ/L at hour 72 leading to delayed excretion. Of these, 7 had also creatinine elevation and main adverse events were mucositis, reversible transaminasis elevation and one sepsis. In the overall analysis, other toxicities included mucositis grade II (20%), nefrotoxicity (5.6%) and neutropenia grades III and IV (25.4%). Serious adverse events of seizure, allergic reaction, and Steven Johnson's Syndrome lead to suspension of future HDMTX administration in 4 patients (01 metastatic). The main differences found between M and non-M patients were 16.8% versus 8.7% of leucopenia grade IV and 12.1% versus 6.6% of anemia grades III and IV. Conclusions: Similar to other authors’ experience, outpatient administration of HDMTX lead to elevated serum levels in 42.5% of the infusions, demonstrating the importance of a well trained staff and early introduction of supportive therapies to avoid associated toxicities. To a developing country, this approach helps lowering treatment costs and infection risks and increases patient adherence to treatment, with acceptable toxicities, even with the introduction of metronomic treatment. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Engaging Latinos in Culturally Specific Educational Programming: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Results from the 2000 United States census highlighted that the Latino population had exceeded the African American population as the largest U.S. minority group. Furthermore, during the past 20 years, migration patterns for Latino families have spread throughout the West, Midwest, and South and not merely in the border states. To meet the rising educational and human service needs, professionals have sought to develop programs that are effective at helping the Latino populations. This article presents a theoretical model for engaging Latinos in family and consumer science education and outreach programs. The model was designed for family and consumer science educators and draws from both the education and human service literature. A case study is used to outline the application of the model and suggestions for implementation are described.

Reduction of Restraint and Seclusion Through Collaborative Problem Solving: A Five-Year Prospective Inpatient Study

This study examined usage patterns of restraint and seclusion before and after the implementation of collaborative problem solving (CPS), a manualized therapeutic program for working with aggressive children and adolescents. The clinical setting was a 15-bed psychiatric inpatient unit for school-age children. A total of 755 children were hospitalized for a total of 998 admissions from fiscal years 2003 to 2007 (median age=11 years; 64% boys). Data were collected for three years before and 1.5 years after the six-month implementation of the CPS model of care. There were 559 restraint and 1,671 seclusion events during the study period. After implementation of the CPS model there was a reduction in the use of restraints (from 263 events to seven events per year, representing a 37.6-fold reduction, slope [beta]=-.696) and seclusion (from 432 to 133 events per year, representing a 3.2-fold reduction, beta=-.423). The mean duration of restraints decreased from 41+/-8 to 18+/-20 minutes per episode, yielding cumulative unitwide restraint use that dropped from 16+/-10 to .3+/-.5 hours per month (a 45.5-fold reduction, beta=-.674). The mean duration of seclusion decreased from 27+/-5 to 21+/-5 minutes per episode, yielding cumulative unitwide seclusion use that dropped from 15+/-6 to 7+/-6 hours per month (a 2.2-fold reduction; p for trend .01 or better for all slopes). During the early phases of implementation there was a transient increase in staff injuries through patient assaults. CPS is a promising approach to reduce seclusion and restraint use in a child psychiatric inpatient setting. Future research and replication efforts are warranted to test its effectiveness in other restrictive settings.

Benefits and Changes for Family to Family Graduates

Family members of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) need information and support to cope with the considerable stresses they experience. The Family to Family Education Program (FtF) is a structured, peer-led, 12-week information and support self-help class for such individuals. Previous research by Dixon et al. (2004) shows reduced subjective burden and increased empowerment among graduates. The present study sought to understand what processes take place during FtF participation that might lead to these benefits, as a first step in building a conceptual model of how FtF causes its effects, using semi-structured interviews with 31 FtF graduates. Qualitative data analysis suggested that new factual and emotional information from FtF shifts interviewees' understanding of their situation and that skills acquired through FtF then allow participants to incorporate these new perspectives into more adaptive behaviors. These changes led to both proximal and distal benefits for the FtF participants interviewed. The results are discussed in the context of self-help, stress-and-coping, and trauma recovery theories.

418: An Educated Patient is a Safe Patient

The issues of limited medical literacy and patient anxiety are addressed in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Patient and Family Education program for bone marrow transplant recipients and caregivers. Academic sophistication can not be a requirement for patient safety. Instead, the Patient Centered, Patient and Family Caregiver Education Program, utilizes a mix of teaching methods, learning opportunities, information sources, and communication approaches to facilitate caregiver role training and to impart patient knowledge.