Un ensayo controlado de intervención social en familias de pacientes esquizofrénicos

RESUMEN

En este estudio se expone un ensayo controlado de intervención social en familias de pacientes esquizofrénicos con alto riesgo de recaída. Los pacientes se seleccionaron por tener mucho contacto con familiares con alta emoción expresada. Todos los pacientes mantuvieron su tratamiento con medicamentos neurolépticos. Una mitad de las veinticuatro familias se asignaron al azar a cuidados rutinarios de pacientes externos, mientras que la otra mitad recibió un paquete de intervenciones sociales. Éste comprendía un programa de educación acerca de la esquizofrenia, un grupo para los parientes y sesiones familiares para parientes y pacientes. La tasa de recaída en el grupo de control fue de cincuenta por ciento comparada con el nueve por ciento del grupo experimental (P = 0.04). Los objetivos establecidos en las intervenciones terapéuticas se alcanzaron en el setenta y tres por ciento de las familias experimentales, en las cuales no hubo pacientes con recaídas. Los resultados evidencian el papel causal de la emoción expresada de los familiares en la recaída de pacientes esquizofrénicos, así como de la efectividad terapéutica de la intervención social combinada con el tratamiento farmacológico.     

Reconceiving the field: Infant mental health,intersectionality, and reproductive justice

The field of infant mental health is conventionally comprised of professional discourses including developmental science, psychology, and psychiatry, among others, and involves spheres of practice as wide-ranging as pediatrics, maternal/child health, early intervention, early care and education, and child welfare. The World Association of Infant Mental Health [WAIMH] put out its position paper on the rights of infants in 2014 (amended in March 2016) in recognition of the human rights implications of professional understanding of infants’ unique, yet universal, developmental capacities and needs. This article links the policy issues outlined in the WAIMH position paper with critical issues in the field of reproductive justice, extending the reach of WAIMH's call to action on behalf of infants’ rights, and pointing the way toward potent alliances among interconnected movements. Connecting the dots among economic injustice, race-based health disparities, and gender inequities, the article demonstrates that it is not possible to safeguard infant mental health unless we make reproductive justice a reality.     

Stepfamily Relationship Quality and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

The stepfamily literature is replete with between‐group analyses by which youth residing in stepfamilies are compared to youth in other family structures across indicators of adjustment and well‐being. Few longitudinal studies examine variation in stepfamily functioning to identify factors that promote the positive adjustment of stepchildren over time. Using a longitudinal sample of 191 stepchildren (56% female, mean age = 11.3 years), the current study examines the association between the relationship quality of three central stepfamily dyads (stepparent–child, parent–child, and stepcouple) and children's internalizing and externalizing problems concurrently and over time. Results from path analyses indicate that higher levels of parent–child affective quality are associated with lower levels of children's concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1. Higher levels of stepparent–child affective quality are associated with decreases in children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 2 (6 months beyond baseline), even after controlling for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1 and other covariates. The stepcouple relationship was not directly linked to youth outcomes. Our findings provide implications for future research and practice.     

Parent Education for Migrant Mothers of Left‐Behind Children in China: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Although numerous studies have indicated the significance of parental support and parent–child communication in alleviating the adverse effects of parental departure on left‐behind children, researchers have rarely addressed the impact of parent education on migrant parents. On the basis of the results of a pilot randomized controlled trial, the study reported here involved examining the possible outcomes and feasibility of a parent education program for rural‐to‐urban migrant mothers of left‐behind children in China. Informed by an existential–narrative approach to parent education, the program was composed of six 2.5‐hour sessions. The sample included 56 migrant mothers recruited from a social service center in Shenzhen, China, who were randomly assigned to either the immediate group (n = 28, M = 34.82 years, SD = 4.12, aged 23–43) or the waitlist control group (n = 28, M = 34.68 years, SD = 4.53, aged 28–43). The hypotheses of the trial were twofold: that the program would positively affect participants’ parental identity and that it would improve mother–child relationships and parenting practices. The results revealed no significant difference in parental identity between the intervention group and the waitlist control group at the post‐test assessment after ruling out the effects of pretest survey scores. However, significant differences did emerge in parent–child relationships and parenting practices. Overall, the results corroborate the feasibility of examining the current program for migrant mothers in China in a full trial. The findings also offer insights into developing empirically supported parent education programs for migrant parents.     

The Role of Parents in Emerging Adults’ Psychological Well‐Being: A Person‐Oriented Approach

The purpose of this study was to gain an overview of Spanish emerging adults’ family relationships and their link with psychological well‐being and psychological distress. The sample comprised 1502 undergraduate students (903 women and 599 men) aged between 18 and 29 (M = 20.32 and SD = 2.13), recruited from two universities in Spain. A cluster analysis identified three groups of families based on the centrality of five family variables: parental involvement, parental support for autonomy, parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological control. The three groups or clusters were labeled high‐quality family relationships (HQ), intermediate‐quality family relationships (IQ), and low‐quality family relationships (LQ). Women were overrepresented in the HQ cluster, whereas men were overrepresented in the IQ cluster. Moreover, emerging adults who perceived better family relationships (high levels of parental involvement, parental support for autonomy and parental warmth, and low levels of behavioral and psychological control) were found to have a higher level of psychological adjustment. Thus, our results indicate that family plays a key role in the psychological well‐being of emerging adults. The discussion focuses on the implications of this finding for the parent‐child relationship, and explores how it extends our knowledge about family relationships during emerging adulthood.     

Los valores y las creencias medioambientales en relación con las decisiones sobre dilemas ecológicos

Resumen

El presente trabajo hace referencia a las relaciones entre los valores humanos, las intenciones de conducta proam-biental, las creencias sobre las consecuencias de las condiciones medioambientales medidas a través de la escala del Nuevo Paradigma Ecológico (NPE) y las decisiones que se adoptan cuando nos enfrentamos ante dilemas ecológicos generales. Los resultados obtenidos en una muestra de 184 estudiantes universitari os muestran relaciones significativas entre las intenciones de conducta proambiental y los valores ético-ecológicos y egoístas, siendo en este último caso la relación de signo inverso. Por otro lado, no se encontraron relaciones significativas entre la intención de conducta pro- mabiental y las creencias. Con respecto a los dilemas, los resultados apuntan a la existencia de claras relaciones significativas con las creencias pero no con los valores.     

La perspectiva cualitativa y cuantitativa en las investigaciones sociales

RESUMEN

El debate sobre la utilización de métodos y paradigmas cualitativos versus cuantitativos afecta al programa general de la psicología y está planteado desde la constitución de la ciencia Psicológica. En este artículo se presenta el debate, y se cuestiona el planteamiento tradicional consistente en vincular conjuntos definidos y cerrados de prescripciones teóricas a uno y otro tipo de métodos, presentándolas como alternativas irreconciliables. Este planteamiento es rechazado y sustituido por uno en el que; 1) Es de un claro reconocimiento al carácter científico de la perspectiva cualitativa, 2) Haga una primera aproximación a las posibilidades de la utilización conjunta de ambas perspectivas, 3) Haga una clara distinción entre dos niveles diferentes; nivel paradigmático/epistemológico y nivel metodológico/técnico.