Family's Ability Research Articles

Autism spectrum disorder etiology: Lay beliefs and the role of cultural values and social axioms.

Recent research examining the explanations given by the public (i.e. lay beliefs) for autism spectrum disorder often reveals a reasonably accurate understanding of the biogenetic basis of the disorder. However, lay beliefs often manifest aspects of culture, and much of this work has been conducted in western cultures. In this study, 215 undergraduate university students in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China, completed self-report measures assessing two beliefs concerning autism spectrum disorder etiology: (1) a belief in parental factors and (2) a belief in genetic factors. Potential correlates of lay beliefs were sought in culture-specific values, and more universal social axioms. Participants were significantly more likely to endorse parenting, relative to genetic factors, as etiological. A perceived parental etiology was predicted by values of mind-body holism. Beliefs in a parental etiology were not predicted by values assessing collectivism, conformity to norms, a belief in a family's ability to obtain recognition through a child's achievement, or interpersonal harmony, nor by the social axioms measured (e.g. social cynicism, reward for application, social complexity, fate control, and religiosity). Beliefs in a genetic etiology were not predicted by either culture-specific values or social axioms. Implications of the current results are discussed.

Needs assessment to improve neonatal intensive care in Mexico

Background At the time of the research, Dr Weiss was a clinical fellow in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital. Dr Profit was on faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Neonatology. He held a secondary appointment in the Department of Medicine, Section of Health Services Research and conducted his research at the VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence where he collaborated with Dr Kowalkowski.: Improving the quality of neonatal intensive care is an important health policy priority in Mexico. A formal assessment of barriers and priorities for quality improvement has not been undertaken.Aim:To provide guidance to providers and policy makers with regard to addressing opportunities for better care delivery in Mexican neonatal intensive care units.Objective:To conduct a needs assessment regarding improvement of quality of neonatal intensive care delivery in Mexico.Methods:Spanish-language survey administered to a volunteer sample of Mexican neonatal care providers attending a large paediatric conference in Mexico in June 2011. Survey domains included institutional context of quality improvement, barriers, priorities, safety culture, and respondents' characteristics. Results were analysed using descriptive analyses of frequencies, proportions and percentage positive response (PPR) rates.Results:Of 91 respondents, the majority identified neonatology as their primary specialty (n = 48, 65%) and were physicians (n = 55, 73%). Generally, providers expressed a desire to improve quality of care (PPR 69%) but reported notable deterrents. Respondents (n, %) identified family inability to pay (38, 48%), overcrowded work areas (38, 44%), insufficient financial reimbursement (25, 36%), lack of availability of nurses (26, 30%), ancillary staff (25, 29%), and subspecialists (22, 25%) as the principal barriers. Respiratory care (27, 39%) – reduction of mechanical ventilation and initiation of nasal continuous positive airway pressure – and reduction in frequency of late-onset infections (19, 28%) were selected as top clinical priorities. There were substantial opportunities for improving safety (PPR 48%) and teamwork climate (PPR 58%).Conclusion:These findings may guide efforts to improving quality of care delivery in Mexican neonatal intensive care units.

Challenges for the Aging Family in the People's Republic of China.

The People's Republic of China has the largest population of older persons of any country in the world. It is a nation that has experienced enormous economic, social, and demographic changes over the past three and a half decades. Traditionally, the family was the main social support for older persons; this changed somewhat under early socialism, but in recent years, the importance of family support has been reasserted. However, over this time, the family's ability to support its older members has been considerably altered and arguably weakened. This article reviews four key issues (population change, the hukou system, economic reform, general features surrounding modernization) that have gradually changed families' capacity to provide support for older members. Research foci and public policy directions are considered under which the state might take some responsibilities from the family, support capacity to care, and improve the quality and quantity of support for older citizens.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo: A Cautionary Tale Starring White Working-Class People

Depictions of white working-class people are steadily on the rise in reality television. To understand this phenomenon, and the ways in which it articulates white working-class people in the United States today, I analyze Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a popular reality series on TLC featuring a self-described “redneck” family. I argue that this series highlights the family's inability—because of their working-class status—to conform to “ideal whiteness,” a whiteness that displays dominant cultural standards bolstered by neoliberalism, such as wealth, rationality, personal responsibility, and self-control. The family members consequently become exemplars of “inappropriate whiteness,” a marginal identity presented as humorous and, through the use of surveillance and spectacle, authentic.

Die impak van afwesige vaders op adolessente dogters se psigososiale welstand

It was found that many children in South Africa grow up without a biological father's involvement. The absence of a parent within a family system causes a vacuum in the parenthood role and has a negative influence on a family's ability to function efficiently. The impact of absent fathers on the well-being of adolescent girls is investigated in this study. The study was done in two phases. During the first phase semi-structured interviews were conducted with six girls where the father was absent. The participants' personal opinions of the impact their fathers' absence has on their lives were set out in themes. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews was used in that variables were identified that could be tested during the second phase. For the second phase, 30 adolescents completed questionnaires. These findings were reported in statistical form. The two sets of findings were compared with each other. It seems that the adolescent girls have a huge number of unfulfilled needs that can be ascribed to the absence or their fathers. They have a need for spending time with their fathers and to bond closely with him. The participants mentioned that their mothers fulfilled both the role as the mother and as the father and partly compensate for the absence or their fathers. The data collected through this study will assist fathers in forming a better idea of their value within the family structure.

The Value of Family Welfare Conferencing within the Child Protection and Welfare System

The Family Welfare Conference (FWC) is a model used within the child protection and welfare services to address concerns about the needs of children and their family's ability to respond to these needs. The FWC model operates in partnership with family members, who participate in identifying both the issues of concern and potential responses to address these. The core premise of the FWC model involves greater engagement by family members in the process of responding to matters connected to their children's protection and welfare. This paper presents the findings of a research study on the value placed on the FWC model by social workers working in a statutory child protection and welfare department in the Republic of Ireland. A mixed-methods study was employed with social workers asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire and to participate in a face-to-face interview. The main findings highlight the value of the FWC as a model of relationship-based practice, with participation and partnership with family members viewed as crucial elements. The particular strengths identified in the model include the relationship that is established and developed between the FWC coordinator and the family members, the decision-making methods engaged in by families, and the increased understanding of the issues involved by virtue of participation within the FWC process. The place of the FWC within child protection and welfare services is considered in light of these findings, with an overall positive viewpoint presented.

Psychological Distress Among College Youth as a Function of Family SES: The Mediating Effect of Sense of Poverty and the Mitigating Role of Family Resources

Although college provides an opportunity for socioeconomic advancement, poor college youth confront material scarcity and financial problems and are at risk for psychological distress. Yet, distress is a product not only of poverty per se but of a sense of poverty, or a subjective evaluation of one's socioeconomic conditions vis-à-vis life circumstances. Both sense of poverty and psychological distress, however, can be mitigated by collective problem-solving in the family and by the family's social resources. Analysis of data from Filipino college youth ( n = 831) shows that the family's inability to meet financial obligations is not directly associated with distress, but indirectly through sense of poverty. Lack of family assets is not a predictor of psychological distress, given that the positive indirect effect through sense of poverty is counteracted by a negative direct effect. Results also show that family problem-solving lessens psychological distress and that adequate access to social resources lessens the negative effect of sense of poverty on distress.

Development of Minangkabau Women's Roles as an Effort to Reduce Risk in Disaster-prone Cities in Indonesia A Case Study of Western District of Padang, Padang City, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Sumatra is a disaster-prone area, and Padang is located in the ring of fire. Potentials for disaster and vulnerability in urban areas is high, so to reduce the risk of disasters, knowledge and understanding for the whole community, especially through women’s roles, are required. The aim of this study is to clarify the role of women in disaster mitigation in disaster-prone cities and to identify factors that affect development of women's roles. This paper applies a qualitative approach of observation and in-depth interviews conducted with people, especially women, in West Padang. The result illustrates that the improvement of understanding and knowledge of disaster mitigation and efforts to reduce disaster risk affect public perception. The expanding women’s roles in the Minangkabau tribe are significant in developing an understanding of the families because women are considered the first and primary teachers in the family. Therefore, by increasing women’s role in implementing mitigation plans in disaster-prone cities, the family's ability to mitigate disaster becomes a strategy within the life of the sustainability community.

What Impact Do Hospital and Unit-Based Rules Have Upon Patient and Family-Centered Care in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit?

Patient and family-centered care (PFCC) is the foundation for pediatric healthcare. The existence of hospital rules can, however, impact the extent to which PFCC is delivered. This qualitative, grounded theory study identified the existence of explicit and implicit rules in a pediatric intensive care unit, all of which negatively affected the family's ability to receive care that was attentive to their needs. The rules also placed the registered nurse in the challenging position of serving as rule enforcer and facilitator of PFCC. Further work is needed to explore how to adapt the hospital environment to better meet families' needs.

Higher Household Income and the Availability of Electronic Devices and Transport at Home Are Associated with Higher Waist Circumference in Colombian Children: The ACFIES Study

Background: The current “epidemic” of childhood obesity is described as being driven by modern lifestyles with associated socioeconomic and environmental changes that modify dietary habits, discourage physical activity and encourage sedentary behaviors. Objective: To evaluate the association between household income and the availability of electronic devices and transport at home, and the values of waist circumference (WC), as an indicator of abdominal obesity, in children and adolescents from Bucaramanga, Colombia. Methods: Cross-sectional study of public elementary and high school population, of low-middle socioeconomic status. Results: A total of 668 schoolchildren were recruited. After adjusting for potential confounders, significant positive associations between waist circumference and higher household income (p = 0.011), and waist circumference and the availability of electronic devices and transport at home (p = 0.026) were found. Conclusions: In low-middle socioeconomic status schoolchildren in a developing country, those from relatively more affluent families had greater waist circumference, an association that is opposite to that observed in developed countries. This finding could be related to higher income family’s ability to purchase electronic devices and motorized transport which discourage physical activity and for their children to buy desirable and more costly western fast food.

EPA-1294 - Living with dementia: a review of the influence of sense of coherence

Introduction Antonovsky's salutogenic construct of sense of coherence (SOC) includes the dimensions of meaningfulness, comprehensibility and manageability. SOC is assumed to promote and protect health in stressful situations, such as the adaptation to severe illness. There is highquality evidence on this in several areas of mental health, and one could expect dementia to be one of them. Objectives/Aims We conducted a literature review to uncover the role of SOC as moderator or mediator in the ability of patients and their partners to cope with the impact of dementia. Methods We searched the major databases (1994-2012), using selection criteria, data extraction and methodological quality assessment. Nvivo10 software was used to accomplish a rigorous literature review. Results The SOC within the dementia context has been explored in 8 different countries. Some studies addressed the caregiver's SOC, but the focus on the person with dementia and a systemic perspective on couples remain largely neglected. There were significant associations between SOC and lower caregiver's burden, and between SOC and higher caregiver's perceived health and quality of life, namely in advanced dementia. Conclusions There is a dearth of research-based discussions of the SOC role in living with dementia. Results highlight the importance of studying couples, in a dyadic perspective, while acknowledging the voice of the patients themselves, despite several methodological challenges. Research should address the role of SOC in the individual and family's ability to cope with dementia, especially at the early stages of the process, aiming to provide new insights into dementia care.

Quality of life of families with children with disability in the area of physical wellbeing in Latvia

Family quality of life, just like quality of life in general is multidimensional by nature and reflects interaction of different areas and their influence on family life; for this reason it becomes possible to study it in the context of different approaches. Analyzing the areas of family quality of life highlighted by different authors it can be concluded that the analysis of family quality of life must include the following areas: material, physical, social and emotional wellbeing, and also describe the factors that affect family wellbeing. The research of family quality of life is crucial in order to reflect on family's ability to meet their needs, while the possibility for families to meet the needs largely depends on the support provided by the state, municipalities, NGOs and the society as a whole. Based on the study results, it is possible to identify the type of support needed for meeting children's special needs, and also to highlight the tendencies in how the lack of this support in area of physical wellbeing affects their family quality of life. This study reflects the factors that affect the quality of life in the area of physical wellbeing of the families with disabled children.

Economic Stress Among Adult-Child Caregivers of the Oldest Old in China: The Importance of Contextual Factors

Guided by Pearlin's stress process model, this study tested the association between parents' care needs, caregivers' structural context, and caregivers' perception of economic stress in providing care for their parents. Multinomial probit regression was conducted with the cross-sectional data from 895 pairs of Chinese oldest-old parents and their adult-child caregivers. The results indicate that caregiver's low income, and reporting "eldest son" status increased the likelihood of reporting higher levels of economic stress. Caregivers who lived in urban areas, had poor health, or were divorced, widowed or unmarried reported higher levels of economic stress. These findings indicate the need of research on low-income caregivers and the relationship between filial norms and caregiving experience. This study also implies the need for culturally congruent social services and policies designed to enhance the family's ability to care for elders.

Growing up with cerebral palsy: perceptions of the influence of family

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive condition present from birth or infancy that includes various neurological patterns of dysfunction. It is characterized by abnormal motor control and/or posture and can involve communication difficulties. Children and youth with CP face multiple social and developmental challenges during their formative years including mild to severe physical limitations, poor socialization, limited recreational activities, and stigmatization. Families play a key role in supporting adaptation to CP. The purpose of this paper was to explore women's perceptions of the ways their families contributed to their overall quality of life with CP. Drawing on data from a qualitative study of eight women with CP, the purpose of this analysis was to examine perceptions of the ways in which their families and individual family members contributed to participants' overall quality of life and adaptation to CP. Respondents ranged in age from 22 years to 55 years and had varied forms of CP. The study was based on a feminist biographical approach, which combines biographical methods with feminist principles. Participants provided considerable, rich contextual data on their family life and the pivotal role family played. The analysis identified four themes related to supportive family roles: (1) being an advocate, and teaching advocacy; (2) promoting inclusion and acceptance; (3) integrating therapy into daily life; and (4) the importance of siblings as friends and mentors. Health-care providers can contribute to the family's ability to facilitate quality of life by providing guidance on how to be advocates and teach advocacy, including the child with CP in family activities, accessing therapy and incorporating beneficial therapies at home, and promoting healthy sibling relationships.

“Her Illness Is a Project We Can Work on Together”

This article presents a model for intervening with families that are addressing a new diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in one member. The model is collaborative, integrative, and family-centered. It involves both working with the family collaboratively and providing strategies to promote greater collaboration within the family. The model integrates elements of crisis intervention theory, psycho-education, and family-centered approaches. The model was developed with families addressing MS, and was piloted with three families. The intervention was found to improve family members' ability to collaborate with each other. Such increased collaboration may enhance the family's ability to manage long-term illness more effectively, help the family address the impact of the illness on all family members, and generally improve the family's quality of life.

Accommodating families during a child’s hospital stay: Implications for family experience and perceptions of outcomes.

Family accommodation programs, such as Ronald McDonald House® (RMH), aim to facilitate family proximity and family-centered care during a child's hospitalization, yet little is known about how the programs influence family experience. The aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives of families regarding the impact of the RMH stay on the family and their hospital experience and to explore the influence of demographic and clinical factors on family member views about their experience and outcome of their child's hospitalization. Family members who spent one or more nights at an RMH in Southern California completed a cross-sectional, self-report survey that included descriptive information about the family and the hospital experience. The 2,081 respondents (53% mothers, 24% fathers, 7% other family members, and 15% multiple family members) generally reported positive experiences at RMH. Although effect sizes were small, families who stayed together for at least a portion of their stay believed more strongly that their ability to stay nearby improved their child's recovery and that RMH helped their family to stay together. Cultural differences were also evident, with Hispanic families believing more strongly that RMH shortened their child's hospital stay. A family's ability to stay together and in close proximity during a pediatric hospital stay is facilitated by accommodations such as RMH and provides important benefits in terms of family experience, psychosocial well-being, and perceptions of child recovery. These services also contribute meaningfully to the priority of providing family-centered care.

Finding your way through EOL challenges in the ICU using Adaptive Leadership behaviours: A qualitative descriptive case study

Using the Adaptive Leadership framework, we describe behaviours that providers used while interacting with family members facing the challenges of recognising that their loved one was dying in the ICU. In this prospective pilot case study, we selected one ICU patient with end-stage illness who lacked decision-making capacity. Participants included four family members, one nurse and two physicians. The principle investigator observed and recorded three family conferences and conducted one in-depth interview with the family. Three members of the research team independently coded the transcripts using a priori codes to describe the Adaptive Leadership behaviours that providers used to facilitate the family's adaptive work, met to compare and discuss the codes and resolved all discrepancies. We identified behaviours used by nurses and physicians that facilitated the family's ability to adapt to the impending death of a loved one. Examples of these behaviours include defining the adaptive challenges for families and foreshadowing a poor prognosis. Nurse and physician Adaptive Leadership behaviours can facilitate the transition from curative to palliative care by helping family members do the adaptive work of letting go. Further research is warranted to create knowledge for providers to help family members adapt.

Enhancing Family Resilience Through Family Narrative Co-construction

We draw upon family resilience and narrative theory to describe an evidence-based method for intervening with military families who are impacted by multiple wartime deployments and psychological, stress-related, or physical parental injuries. Conceptual models of familial resilience provide a guide for understanding the mechanics of how families respond and recover from exposure to extreme events, and underscore the role of specific family processes and interaction patterns in promoting resilient capabilities. Leading family theorists propose that the family's ability to make meaning of stressful and traumatic events and nurture protective beliefs are critical aspects of resilient adaptation. We first review general theoretical and empirical research contributions to understanding family resilience, giving special attention to the circumstances, challenges, needs, and strengths of American military families. Therapeutic narrative studies illustrate the processes through which family members acquire meaning-making capacities, and point to the essential role of parents' in facilitating discussions of stressful experiences and co-constructing coherent and meaningful narratives. This helps children to make sense of these experiences and develop capacities for emotion regulation and coping. Family-based narrative approaches provide a structured opportunity to elicit parents' and children's individual narratives, assemble divergent storylines into a shared family narrative, and thereby enhance members' capacity to make meaning of stressful experiences and adopt beliefs that support adaptation and growth. We discuss how family narratives can help to bridge intra-familial estrangements and re-engage communication and support processes that have been undermined by stress, trauma, or loss. We conclude by describing a family-based narrative intervention currently in use with thousands of military children and families across the USA.

Short‐term effects of a suicide education intervention for family caregivers of people who are suicidal

To evaluate the short-term effects of a suicide care educational intervention on the family's ability to care, family's caring stress levels and family's attitudes towards attempted suicide. Research has demonstrated that suicide prevention educational programmes are provided mostly for professional staff and not for the family caregivers of people who are suicidal. A experimental design, using two groups and a pre- and postintervention survey method, was used. A randomised controlled study was conducted with 74 family caregivers of people who are suicidal (37 using suicide education and 37 in the control group). The experimental group was provided with a two-hour suicide care education intervention, and the control group received normal suicide care support. Participants were recruited at a Suicide Prevention Centre and two acute psychiatric hospitals between October 2009-December 2010. Three questionnaires were collected: (1) the Suicidal Caring Ability Scale (2) the Caring Stress Scale and (3) the Suicide Attitudes Scale. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to analyse the data. The results demonstrated that there were statistically significant differences in the Suicidal Caring Ability Scale and the Suicide Attitudes Scale but no statistically significant differences in the Caring Stress Scale. That is, the suicide education programme can promote the ability to care for people who are suicidal and can generate a positive attitude towards people who are suicidal from their caregivers. Family caregivers of suicidal individuals who attended the psycho-education programme had an increased caring ability and positive attitudes for their suicidal relatives. Nurses could use the two-hour personal suicidal education programme to increase one's ability to care for their relatives who had attempted suicide and promote one's positive attitudes towards attempted suicide.

Overcoming illness and disability issues within the home setting: a case example

Using a real case example, this article demonstrates implementation of occupational therapy approaches for professionals who are aiming to meet a family's needs facing a deep crisis generated by illness and disability. Recommendations include the need to be sensitive to the family's ability to absorb the changed circumstances which affect the whole family, providing support to the family through acknowledging and supporting the family's efforts throughout the recovery time. This includes the emotional, informational and practical supports which should be given constantly and empathically right from the hospital to the home transition and long-term rehabilitation care. Recommendations were made for an educational program for families in hospitals to support the home transition and disability management. These recommendations support a family centred educational approach with an emphasis on care and empathy not only for the person with disability but for all family members as they attempt to come to terms with the new situation and cope on a day-to-day basis with new circumstances.