Reactive Depression and Chronic Illness: Counseling Patients and Their Families

Major theories and research findings are presented with specific suggestions for counseling approaches to reduce prevalence and impact of depression that often accompanies physical illness.     

Counseling Patients with Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type and Their Families

Within the field of gerontology, senile dementia of the Alzheimer type has been noted as an area in which the family does not receive much support, although the emotional burdens are tremendous. This article offers client-centered counseling techniques for the Alzheimer Disease patient and examines the benefits of group or individual counseling for the family.     

Post-Adoption Services for High-Risk Families and Their Children: Preliminary Results of a State-Wide Intervention

Despite well-documented post-adoption needs of adoptive families, most states provide no or very limited post-adoption services. This study describes Right Turn® (RT), a state-wide program for strengthening adoptive families and preventing adoption dissolution. Results suggest: (a) RT is serving its targeted audience of adoptive families with challenging problems indicated by older adopted children with a history of multiple placements, extended time in social services systems, and a host of mental health challenges; and (b) adoption training, family support when navigating access to post-adoption services, and collaboration with adoption-competent therapists appeared to have helped improve program outcomes.     

Dilution of Family Process in Social Services: Implications for Treatment of Neglectful Families

Families identified as neglectful pose a special challenge to family therapists and other practitioners, not only because they are usually involuntary clients but also because of the relative weakness of their internal process, which often becomes "diluted" into the system of providers. Current social services practices that exacerbate the dilution of family process are hard to eradicate because they are rooted in a culture that promotes the transfer of functions from families to social agencies; families, immersed in the same culture, often collude with the agencies in their own dilution. The treatment of neglect in families calls for the nurturance of the family's process and the disruption of the complementary pattern between family and regulatory agencies.     

The Illness/Non-Illness Treatment Model: Psychotherapy for Physically Ill Patients and Their Families

Abstract

The model is based on four theoretical concepts: Duality, Contradiction, Complementarity, and Unity. This article presents the responses of patients to therapeutic interventions utilizing Differentiation/Integration Work to draw the distinction between Illness and Non-Illness in the psychotherapeutic themes and attitudes of the physically ill and/or disabled. The findings indicate that in this special population, the patient is stimulated to learn the language of change and how to overcome difficult situations. The model suggests a new clinical mode of treatment in which the physically ill and/or disabled are helped to cope with actual motifs and thoughts related to Non-Illness or Non-Disability.     

Family-Based Intervention with High-Risk Infants and Their Families

A model of family-based intervention for high-risk infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit and their families is presented. The theoretical underpinnings, principles, and nature of the intervention are described. The adaptation of the model from a clinical–research demonstration project to a clinical consultation service is highlighted, with particular emphasis on the practical application of the model. Domains of the intervention include infant behavior, family organization and functioning, caregiving environment, and home discharge/community resources. Three case illustrations are provided to demonstrate the breadth of the intervention and how it can be individualized based upon the presentation of the infant and family.     

Families with Physically Handicapped Children: Social Ecology and Family Systems

This paper reviews research on families with physically handicapped children, and integrates this work within a social ecological perspective. Methodological difficulties in past research that contribute to a lack of consensus in the area are discussed. Research on stresses experienced by various subsystems within families with handicapped children is presented, with recommendations for future family-oriented research and intervention. The interactions of families with handicapped children with their social support networks are reviewed, underscoring the importance of these processes for coping and adaptation.     

试述癌症患者的社会支持

社会支持是一个具有复杂内涵的概念,对于癌症患者,应从接受和给予两个方面双向理解社会支持的概念,根据患者的情况提供个性化的社会支持,构建癌症患者四个层面的社会支持系统,并采取多样化的方法对癌症患者的社会支持系统进行研究,从而促使癌症患者能根据自身情况建立并有效利用社会支持系统.     

Social Comparison and the Subjective Well-Being of Cancer Patients

Although cancer patients may suffer from more physical and psychological distress than healthy persons, they seem not to differ in subjective well-being. In this article the influence of social comparison on the relation between physical distress and subjective well-being was examined among cancer patients. LISREL analyses provided support for the following model: First, the psychological distress that resulted from physical distress induced a need for comparison. This need, in turn, affected the frequency of downward comparison. Whereas psychological distress negatively affected perceptions of how well one was doing in comparison with others, selectively comparing downward had the reverse impact, contributing to a feeling of relative well-being. Unexpectedly, these relative evaluations also seemed to be affected directly by the amount of physical distress patients experienced. Finally, although both the amount of physical and psychological distress had strong direct effects on subjective well-being, the perception of how well one was doing compared to most others explained an additional significant amount of variance. Interestingly, this model was also supported in a healthy control group, suggesting that we are dealing here with a general behavioral model that suggests that social comparison processes may contribute to well-being when well-being is threatened by stress.     

临终患者与家属进行临终互动的影响因素研究进展

通过文献综述的方式,梳理了近几年国内外关于临终患者与家属的临终互动的研究,归纳了临终互动的影响因素和可供参考的互动策略。疾病阶段、文化特点、沟通习惯和环境等因素均会影响临终患者和家属进行临终互动的意愿、内容偏好和沟通方式,针对不同的影响因素应该采取相对应的互动策略。明确临终互动的影响因素有助于患者和家属发现对方的潜在需求,有助于临床医务工作者进一步开展相关研究,为探索临终互动干预方案提供证据支持。     

Working with Runaways and Their Families: How the SAJA Community Does it

This paper presents an account of the development, philosophy, and delivery of a particular kind of human service: counseling with runaways and their families that is based in a Runaway House. It attempts to show some of the relationships between the work of effective counseling, the set of the counselors (almost all paraprofessionals), and the setting in which counseling takes place (a weekly "Family Seminar" that serves a Runaway House functioning as one collective in a community of social service projects, Special Approaches to Juvenile Assistance [SAJA]).     

Counseling Haitian Students and Their Families: lssues and interventions

The purpose of this article is to provide counselors with a general introduction to the background of Haitian immigrant students in the United States and to the issues that often arise in working with them. The article examines the psychological, sociocultural, familial, and economic factors that make adjustment to American schools difficult for Haitian students, as exemplified by the case of a 9-year-old Haitian boy in a New York City public school. The article also recommends interventions that counselors can implement to improve the academic and social/emotional functioning of Haitian students and their families.     

Neuroticism and Reactions to Social Comparison Information Among Cancer Patients

In an experimental study neuroticism was examined as a moderator of breast cancer patients' affective reactions to social comparison information about a fellow patient. Fifty-seven women with breast cancer completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire and received social comparison information about a fellow patient who was either doing better (upward condition) or worse (downward condition) than themselves. As expected, patients showed more positive reactions to upward comparison information than to downward comparison information. Moreover, neuroticism was related to responding more negatively and less positively to social comparison information. Although respondents high and low in neuroticism did not differ in their reactions to downward comparison information, low neuroticism was associated with more positive responding to upward comparison information.     

Material Hardships and Social Support Among Australian Families with Children

Using the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, this study examines the experiences of material hardships among Australian families with children and the role of social support in their experiences. The study sample includes 3939 children in the B-cohort (6 years old) and 4030 children in the K-cohort (10 years old). Cohort differences were observed in all analyses. The odds of experiencing material hardships were predicted by various factors apart from income. For both cohorts, material hardships had significant negative effects on maternal depression, which was a significant predictor of child outcomes. Even after controlling for income and other covariates, material hardships had significant negative effects on all outcomes of K-cohort children, but only on emotional functioning of B-cohort children. Social support was associated with the reduced odds of experiencing material hardships. Social support was also a significant predictor of all parental and child outcomes. However, the interaction effects showed that positive effects of such informal support were limited for families who already experienced material hardships. These findings suggest the importance of preventing material hardships in the first place. There is a significant role for public assistance in fulfilling the unmet needs of these families.