Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes special report studies entitled :[1] A sustainable urban development.-- [2] Open building. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-241).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to highlight parent distress in diabetes, identify factors associated with distress and to show how public health and clinical professionals can assist parents in coping with their child's diabetes and living positively as a family unit. Methods: Parents of youth with diabetes (N = 41 qualitative, N = 332 quantitative) were engaged in focus groups, interviews, and survey research to understand their needs and stressors in life with a child with diabetes. Themes were examined in the qualitative data, and correlations and a regression model were run and analyzed from the quantitative data set, made available by the Behavioral Diabetes Institute. Results: The results of the study suggested that parents who were more isolated, have tense relationships with youth, and have greater family conflict are most likely to report high levels of distress. Parents shared that they experience great fear related to life with diabetes and describe the fear as "constant" and "unrelenting." Most parents experienced frustration related to life with diabetes, yet the frustration changes with time and disease experience. Distress was more common in mothers, as well as in younger parents. Distress was also shown to correlate with duration of disease and younger parent age. Discussion: Distress is a part of life with diabetes, both for the person with diabetes and their caregivers. Parent distress is particularly challenging as it includes the delicate balance between the parent being the life support for the child with diabetes and the parent learning to let go of the same child in the maturation process. Parents face difficulties knowing how to assist their child proactively without creating a negative family dynamic. There is opportunity for health professionals to intervene in the family experience in life with diabetes. Health professionals should be aware of the kind of distress families are experiencing, the environment in which the family lives and functions, and the coping mechanisms used by each person in the family with diabetes. Understanding parenting style would be useful in identifying parents that may need extra support and education about living with and helping their child with diabetes. Shifts in the diabetes education practices around diabetes would also benefit families. More emphasis on family dynamics in clinical environments would provide greater understanding for health professionals about family functioning and diabetes distress.

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Concerns about the increasing high rate of divorce and marital disputes in the Hong Kong community and of children living in these families have been raised by educators, social workers and mental health professionals. It is held that parental divorce and interparental conflicts have strong and enduring detrimental effects on the development of children. This project examined the risk and resilience in terms of cognitive processing styles in adolescents under interparental conflict divorced family environment. The total number of adolescents participating in this study was 1,384. They came from 4 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Seven hundred and twenty of them (52.0%) were males, and 656 (47.4%) were females. Their age ranged from 11 to 18 years old, mean age was 13.59 years (SD = 1.06). Among them, 170 (12.3%) came from divorced families, 1,174 (84.8%) came from two-parent intact homes, and 40 (2.9%) participants did not answer this question. All participants filled in the same packet of questionnaires. These questionnaires assessed their attentional styles, symptoms of emotional disorders, happiness and interparental conflict. The participants completed the questionnaire under the supervision of the author, or a research assistant, or a teacher in class. Participants who reported that their parents had separated or divorced were required to answer additional questionnaires that measured self-blame and self-perceived positive change. Data obtained from the large pool of samples (n = 1,384) was used for validation of the Chinese version of the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Revised scale (CAPNIR). Data from participants who came from divorced families (n = 170) was used for validating the Chinese Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C). Data from adolescents who reported to have witnessed interparental conflict (n = 767) was used for evaluating the psychometric property of the Interparental Conflict Scale (IPCS). Results showed that these three inventories had good internal consistency reliabilities as well as convergent validities. Results of the principle component analysis (PCA) also showed that the factor structures of both the APNIR and the CPTGI-C were comparable to the English version questionnaires. The main findings of this project consisted of two parts. The first part explored the adjustment of adolescents from divorced families. It also investigated whether divorced and intact families with presence and absence of interparental conflict would have different adjustment outcomes, and whether there was an interaction between family status and interparental conflict on the outcomes. Statistical methods that included correlation analysis, independent sample t-test comparisons, 2-way multivariate analysis and factoral analysis of variance were used. In consistent with existing findings, the following results were obtained. First, adolescents from divorced families in general demonstrated more symptoms of emotional disorders than those from two-parent intact families. Second, adolescents from divorced families had witnessed a significantly higher level of interparental conflict than those from two-parent intact families. Third, parental divorce and interparental conflict significantly predicted adolescents’ maladjustment. Fourth, adolescents from two-parent intact families were happier than adolescents who came from divorced families. The second part of the main study focused on examining the relationship between cognitive processing styles (attentional styles and internal attribution) and adjustment by using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Several significant findings were presented. First, a greater level of negative attentional style was predictive of more symptoms of psychopathology and less happiness. Second, a higher level of positive attentional style was related to more positive emotion and self-perceived personal growth, and less symptoms of psychopathology. Third, while interparental conflict was found to associate with anxiety and aggression, its effects were partially mediated by self-blame; and the effects of parental disputes on depression and happiness were fully mediated by self-blame. The current findings extend existing empirical knowledge by demonstrating that negative attentional style and internal attribution not only linked to more symptoms of emotional disorders but also to less positive emotion. At the same time, positive attentional style predicted positive affect and self-perceived positive change, which to the best of the author’s knowledge, had not been explored in previous studies. Implications, limitations and future directions of these findings were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Background: In serious health conditions, like childhood cancer, parent proxy reports are used for obtaining information. Previous studies have shown controversial results on agreement between children’s and parents’ ratings. In addition, there is lack of proxy studies in research including young children. The aim of the present thesis is (a) to examine how young children as self-raters and mothers as proxy-raters report over time on cancer related health issues, and (b) to explore the factors that may affect the agreement of each mother-child pair. Method: A longitudinal quantitative research design was chosen. Eight young children with cancer aged three to six years and their mothers were followed with questionnaires every six months for four time points. One measure on children’s feelings about their health situation and one measure on perceptions of their everyday functioning were completed by children and mothers at each time point. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results: Higher frequency of agreement was found in T4 (18 months after the diagnosis) for both measures. Between the two measures, higher frequency of agreement was found for the functioning measure. The mother’s educational level was found to be correlated with higher frequency of agreement (functioning measure). Conclusion: The time progress, the mother’s educational level, the number of siblings, the specific shared experience, like preschool, and the concrete and observable issues, like “functioning” rather than “feelings”, were found to be correlated with higher frequency of agreement between young children with cancer and their mothers. The convenient and small sample imposes the need for further research.

Background: Self- harm among children is a growing problem in Sweden. The behavior means that persons deliberately hurt themselves. It´s not only the child who suffer from this behavior, it also affect the parents and siblings. It’s important that the nurse can give parents the support and information that they need. Research is limited when it comes to parents’ experience of having a child who deliberately harm her-/himself. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate parents’ experiences of living with a child with deliberate self-harm. Method: A literature-based study based on analysis of ten qualitative articles was performed. Results: The result are presented in three categories; "Feeling responsible", "Desire to be a better parent", "Feeling invisible and extradited" Conclusion: Nurses need more knowledge about self-harm and how parents perceive their situation. Parents need more support and information from the nurse.

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