Parenting Surviving Children After the Death of a Child from Cancer: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The death of a child is a tragic, devastating event with enormous emotional and relational impact on the family unit. Parental changes are significant,...     

Predicting Burnout Among HIV/AIDS and Oncology Health Care Workers

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between repressive coping, controllability, self-esteem and comparative optimism for health-related events. Repressors (low trait anxiety-high defensiveness) compared with both (a) specific control groups on anxiety and defensiveness (e.g., low-anxious, high-anxious and defensive high anxious) and (b) total nonrepressors were significantly more comparatively optimistic for health-related events. Repressors remained significantly more comparatively optimistic than total nonrepressors when self-esteem was partialled out.

For individual events, repressors differed in comparative optimism for events which were rated as high controllability. It is concluded that repressors are exhibiting comparative optimism over and above nonrepressor groups for events which are rated as controllable. These results suggest that comparative optimism findings may be exaggerated by not controlling for the disproportionate influence of repressors in skewing sample means. Suggestions for future studies are discussed.     

Predictors of physical activity,healthy eating and being smoke-free in teens: A theory of planned behaviour approach

This paper elicited context specific underlying beliefs for physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption and smoke-free behaviour from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and then determined whether the TPB explained significant variation in intentions and behaviour over a 1 month period in a sample of grade 7–9 (age 12–16 years) adolescents. Eighteen individual interviews and one focus group were used to elicit student beliefs. Analyses of this data produced behavioural, normative and control beliefs which were put into a TPB questionnaire completed by 183 students at time 1 and time 2. The Path analyses from the main study showed that the attitude/intention relationship was moderately large for fruit and vegetable consumption and small to moderate for being smoke free. Perceived behavioural control had a large effect on being smoke free and a moderately large effect for fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Intention had a large direct effect on all three behaviours. Common (e.g. feel better, more energy) and behaviour-specific (e.g., prevent yellow fingers, control my weight) beliefs emerged across the three health behaviours. These novel findings, to the adolescent population, support the importance of specific attention being given to each of the behaviours in future multi-behavioural interventions.     

Generic,Disease-Specific and Individualised Approaches to Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life Among People With Heart Disease - A Comparative Analysis

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the evaluation of health-related quality of life. However, there is no consensus on the definition of this concept and as a result there are a plethora of existing measurement instruments. Head-to-head comparisons of the psychometric properties of existing instruments are necessary to facilitate evidence-based decisions about which instrument should be chosen for routine use. Therefore, an individualised instrument (the modified Patient Generated Index (PGI)), a generic instrument (the Short Form 36) and a disease-specific instrument (the Quality of Life after Myocardial Infarction questionnaire) were administered to patients with ischaemic heart disease ( n = 117) and the evidence for the validity, reliability and sensitivity of each instrument was examined and compared. The modified PGI compared favourably with the other instruments but none of the instruments examined provided sound evidence for sensitivity to change. Therefore, any recommendation for the use of the individualised approach in the routine collection of health-related quality of life data in clinical practice must be conditional upon the submission of further evidence to support the sensitivity of such instruments.     

Gender Influences on Preschool Children's Social Problem-Solving Strategies

The authors investigated gender influences on the nature and competency of preschool children's social problem-solving strategies. Preschool-age children (N = 179; 91 boys, 88 girls) responded to hypothetical social situations designed to assess their social problem-solving skills in the areas of provocation, peer group entry, and sharing or taking turns. Results indicated that, overall, girls' responses were more competent (i.e., reflective of successful functioning with peers) than those of boys, and girls' strategies were less likely to involve retaliation or verbal or physical aggression. The competency of the children's responses also varied with the gender of the target child. Findings are discussed in terms of the influence of gender-related social experiences on the types of strategies and behaviors that may be viewed as competent for boys and girls of preschool age.     

Teacher Versus Peer Models

Female Ss (N=80) observed either a teacher or a peer model (M) demonstrate a motor task with either high or low performance ability. The effects’ of viewing these live performances on S’s subsequent motor performances were examined. After the observation of M, S’s performance in the presence or absence of the observed M was investigated. A Control Group consisting of 20 Ss, viewing no M, was compared to ail other groups for analysis. Results of the M Type × M’s Ability Level × M Presence design indicated that those in the Control Group had significantly lower performances than all other groups on all blocks of trials. In addition, across all trial blocks, S’s performances were enhanced subsequent to having viewed a skillful teacher M. Upon observing M’s demonstration, Ss exhibited increased matching responses and better performances when performing in the presence of M.     

Early Adolescents' Values About Their Pets

The essays of adolescent boys and girls (N = 354) explaining their decisions to save a pet in the event of a fire were examined by content analysis for the adolescents' underlying value orientations. Hedonistic utility, a moral value characteristic of the second of Kohlberg's (1976) moral development stages, was the primary value underlying adolescents' choices.     

Trust and Satisfaction in Adult Child–Mother (And Other) Relationships

We examined relationships between adult children and their mothers from a relational perspective. We investigated positive regard for mother relationships versus other dyadic relationships and the role that trust plays in fostering satisfaction in these relationships. In Study 1, undergraduates completed surveys about their relationships with their mothers. Trust was the strongest predictor of satisfaction in participants’ relationships with their moms. In Study 2, adults older than 25 completed questions about their satisfaction with their relationships with their mothers. Participants were more satisfied with and more trusting of their mothers than of anyone other than their best friends. Trust was again the most important predictor of satisfaction in relationships with mothers (as well as in several other relationships).     

Conscience as the Reappearance of the Other in Self-Experience: On Using the Concepts Superego and Conscience in Self Psychology

Many self-psychologically oriented psychoanalysts regard the traditional psychoanalytic construct of a psychic authority situated above the ego as a reification of a relational process and as such no longer relevant. The isolated view of the superego fails to recognize the dynamic, nonlinear nature of the therapeutic relationship in an inter-subjective context. Conscience as an aspect of the superego can, along with the introspective judgment of one's own actions, be embedded in the self so as to become an internal guideline for the necessary personal decisions of social life. Conscience is, among other things, what gives us the courage of our convictions.