Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to identify and enhance specific resilience qualities within families having a child with a learning disability. The study was devided into two phases, namely the descriptive phase, which aimed to identify resilience qualities that enhance family adaptation in these families and an the intervention phase, which aimed to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention programme that enhances the utilization of family time and family routine, important qualities identified in the descriptive phase of this study. The study was essentially exploratory and descriptive in nature and directed to develop scientific knowledge and theory in the field of family resilience. The family system theory (Minuchin, 1974), serves as the theoretical departure point to determine the processes, factors and dynamics underlying the impact of learning disability on the family, while the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996, 2001) was operationalised to measure resilience qualities in terms of stressors, risk, protective factors and familiy adaptation. The 110 participants in the descriptive phase were identified according to the nature of the crisis (learning disability). The study focused mainly on families residing in the Western Cape, South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative measures of investigation were used for data collection. The quantitative results were predomently analysed according to correlation and regression analyses techniques, while the qualitative data was categorized according to themes and frequencies using content analysis. Twenty one of the 24 measured independent variables positively related to the dependent variable (family adjustment). The independent variables which related positively to the dependent variable included: family time and family routine, child routines, couple togetherness, sharing meals together, parent-child togetherness, relative connection, family chores, family management , family hardiness, family commitment, family challenges, locus of control, availability and mobilizing of community sources, faith, problemsolving skills and family communication. A randomized pretest-post test control group design was applied during the intervention phase of the study. The 47 participants were identified in the initial phase of the study. Data was again collected using quantitative and qualitative measures and was analysed using repeated measures of variance analysis, post-hoc Fisher Least Significant Differece analysis and content theory analysis. The results of the intervention phase indicated statistically significant change in family adaptation following the implementation of the workshop. The results implicated that the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996; 2001) may be used to map (outline) variables that are associated with family adjustment within families with a child with learning disabilites. The study opens new opportunities and possibilties for further research. Resilience factors are identified which promote family adaptation and an intervention programme was developed which can be adapted by other professionals wishing to initiate similar services. The value of such a proactive, well being orientated perpective is important within the South African context where sources and studies regarding family resilience factors and suitable intervention programmes, which involves families at risk, are limited. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om veerkragtigheidskwaliteite in gesinne met ʼn kind met ʼn leergestremdheid te identifiseer en te bevorder. Die studie bestaan uit ʼn beskrywende fase, waar veerkragtigheidsfaktore geïdentifiseer is, en ʼn intervensiefase. Die doel met die intervensiefase was om ʼn program te ontwikkel en te evalueer waartydens een van die geïdentifiseerde veerkragtigheidsfaktore verder ontwikkel is ten einde gesinsaanpassing binne dié gesinne te verbeter. Gesinstyd en gesinsroetine is in die huidige studie as die veerkragtigheidsfaktor geïdentifiseer om gesinne met ʼn kind met ʼn leergestremdheid by te staan met die aanpassingsproses. Hierdie studie was verkennend en beskrywend van aard en daarop gerig om by te dra tot wetenskaplike kennis oor gesinsveerkragtigheid. Gesinsisteemteorie (Minuchin,1974) dien as teoretiese vertrekpunt om die prosesse, faktore en dinamika wat verband hou met ʼn kind met ʼn leergestremdheid in ʼn gesin te verstaan, terwyl die Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996, 2001) geoperasionaliseer is om veerkragtigheidskenmerke te identifiseer in terme van stressors, risiko’s, beskermende faktore en gesinsaanpassing. Die 110 gesinne wat aan die beskrywende fase deelgeneem het, is op grond van die aard van die krisis (leergestremdheid) geïdentifiseer. In die studie is gesinne met ʼn kind met ʼn leergestremdheid betrek wat woonagtig is in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika. Kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe datainsamelingsmetodes is gebruik. Die kwantitatiewe data is ontleed met korrelasie- en regressietegnieke, terwyl die kwalitatiewe data met behulp van inhoudsontleding in temas en frekwensies gekategoriseer is. Van die 24 gemete onafhanklike veranderlikes het 21 statisties beduidend positief gekorreleer met die afhanklike veranderlike (gesinsaanpassing). Dit sluit gesinstyd en gesinsroetine, kind-roetines, egpaar-saamwees, gesamentlike etes, ouer-kind-saamwees, kontak met familie, gesinstake, gesinsbestuur, gesinsgehardheid, gesinstoewyding, gesinsuitdaging, lokus van kontrole, beskikbaarheid en mobilisering van gemeenskapsbronne, geloof, probleemoplossingsvaardighede en gesinskommunikasiepatrone in. ʼn Ewekansige voor- en nameting kontrolegroep navorsingsontwerp is tydens die intervensiefase van die studie gebruik. Tydens die beskrywende fase van die studie is 47 persone geïdentifiseer wat aangedui het dat hulle graag aan die intervensiefase van die studie wou deelneem. Beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe data is ingesamel en ontleed met behulp van herhaalde-metingsvariansieontleding, Fisher post-hoc kleinste betekenisvolle verskil-ontledings en inhoudsontleding. Die resultate dui daarop dat gesinsaanpassing statisties beduidend oor tyd verander het. Dit is ʼn betekenisvolle bevinding en impliseer onder andere dat die Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996; 2001) gebruik kan word om veranderlikes te omlyn wat geassosieer kan word met gesinsaanpassing in gesinne met ʼn kind met ʼn leergestremdheid. Die bevindinge skep nuwe geleenthede en moontlikhede vir verdere navorsing. Verskeie veerkragtigheidsfaktore wat in toekomstige navorsing verder beskryf of as intervensieprogramme ontwikkel en geëvalueer kan word, is geïdentifiseer. Die intervensieprogram wat in hierdie studie ontwikkel is, kan as vertrekpunt dien vir die ontwikkeling van soortgelyke intervensies. Die waarde van ʼn pro-aktiewe welwees-geörienteerde perspektief is belangrik binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks waar bronne en navorsing oor gesinsveerkragtigheidsfaktore en gepaste inteintervensieprogramme en gepaste intervensie-programme beperk is.

Social support needs have neither been formally addressed nor assessed in prior research with parents of children of special needs. Typically, behavioral management skills, specific knowledge about the disorder/illness/handicap, parents' self-perception, and participants' evaluation of program effectiveness have been measured. Research information collected to date supports the exploration of social support as a treatment intervention. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine perceived social support for parents of children with ADHD who completed a parent training program. The program, entitled "ADHD Parent Training," included information about ADHD, behavior management strategies, child advocacy, and a social support component. Upon completing the ADHD Parent Training program, parents were expected to perceive a significantly greater amount of social support than they did prior to treatment. In addition, the relationship between change in perceived social support and the more traditionally assessed outcomes of parent training was examined (parent's satisfaction with treatment, parent's perception of child's progress, and teacher's perception of child's progress).

This purpose of this research study was to identify key differences that distinguish stepfamilies from intact families with regard to individual members' perceptions of family environment and family functioning. Additionally, an initial look at how membership in a stepfamily impacts the young children's perceptions of interpersonal family functioning is offered.

The non-victimized siblings in incestuous families have often been ignored in research, literature, and treatment. This study explored these siblings' 1) relationship to the victim, 2) attribution of blame, and 3) adjustment. Participants were 30 non-victimized siblings of incest victims, between the ages of 8 and 14. They completed the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Self-perception Profile for Children, the Children's Depression Inventory, and a questionnaire developed for this research. Participants' scores were compared with the normative sample scores on several measures. Siblings perceived little warmth and closeness in their relationships to their victimized sisters. Rivalry and conflict were within normal limits. Siblings blamed victims and other family members less than expected, with the greatest amount of blame attributed to perpetrators. Adjustment was impaired. Males demonstrated less athletic competence, less global self-worth, more worry and oversensitivity than normative samples. Females showed a tendency toward less global self-worth and heightened general anxiety. Siblings' overall level of emotional distress was higher than most of the normative samples.

A multiple baseline design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of a sibling training package including modeling, role-play, and feedback on play and engagement between children with autism and their siblings. The results of two experiments suggest that, following training, siblings of children with autism correctly implemented all trained interaction components. Additionally, Experiment II assessed and programmed generalization to other materials and a non-training setting. The results showed that some unprogrammed generalization to non-trained toys occurred. Conversely, siblings engaged in trained skills in a non-training setting (home) only following the experimenter's instructions to generalize. In both experiments, the siblings' overall engagement and physical proximity of play in training sessions increased significantly above baseline. This study extends previous research in that it includes additional stimulus and response generalization measures.

My family has always been a source of inspiration to me. In the following sections, I attempt to capture the unique experience of growing up as one of them: how they’ve shaped me as I have grown, and the marks we’ve left on one another. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The Hurricane Notebooks is a manuscript-length memoir of the narrator's quest to piece together the enigmatic character of her late father. She does this through her discovery of his private notebooks as well as her unearthing of four generations of family turmoil. / by Mary Ann Hogan. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Parents with children diagnosed with autism face a variety of stressors. The typical approach to dealing with these stressors is pathological which focuses on the problem by attempting to eliminate or alleviate the stressors through counseling, behavioral therapy, tutoring, and/or drugs. The purpose of the current study was to assess an alternative approach, a constructional one, which focuses on solutions by teaching 3 parents to analyze their life, formulate goals, and develop programs to reach their goals building off of their strengths and assets. The by-product is the reduction or elimination of the stressors. The results suggest that the use of a constructional program is very effective in helping parents develop a new repertoire that will ultimately improve their overall quality of life.

Sibling relationships are an important, yet under investigated aspect of foster care research. Despite the fact that between 65-85% of children in care have brothers and sisters, only recently have child welfare researchers begun to explore the complex and dynamic nature of sibling relationships in substitute care settings. Although cross-sectional and longitudinal studies suggest differences in placement stability and permanency outcomes for siblings placed together versus those placed separately, the conditions under which sibling relationships influence placement stability, permanency, and well-being in foster care settings remain unknown. This dissertation investigated how family dynamics and home setting characteristics influenced the likelihood of a foster care placement change for a sample of children who participated in a sibling relationship enhancement intervention (SIBS-FC) study. A conceptual model was proposed to help explain the circumstances which lead to foster care placement change, and the moderating effects of family living composition on the odds of placement change over an 18-month period were examined. Two multivariate statistical approaches were used in this investigation. The first approach involved examining the effects of a child's report of positive home integration, sibling relationship quality, caregiver's reported impact of child behavior, sibling living situation, kinship caregiver status, number of placements prior to study entry, and receipt of the SIBS-FC intervention on the odds of placement change. Results suggest that children in kinship care were 58% less likely to experience placement change than those who lived in non-relative care, and youth who lived apart from their siblings were 70% more likely to experience placement change than those who lived together. In the second statistical approach, living composition categories were constructed to understand the moderating effects of different living situations on the odds of placement change. Living composition categories included youth who lived in kinship care with their siblings, youth who lived in kinship care without their siblings, and youth who lived in non-relative care with their siblings, with youth in non-relative care who lived apart from their siblings serving as the referent category. Findings support a moderation effect for different categories of living composition, as well as a trend level effect for sibling relationship quality and odds of placement change. Living with one's sibling in kinship care decreased the odds of placement change by 75%, as compared to living apart from one's sibling in a non-relative foster home. A post-hoc analysis determined that all living composition categories were statistically different from one another in relative odds of a placement change. This dissertation provides additional evidence concerning the protective nature of kinship care and sibling co-placement on reducing the odds of experiencing a foster care placement change, and provides support for practices and policies prioritizing kinship care and the co-placement of siblings when making substitute care placement decisions. Future studies of siblings in foster care should explore the experiences of youth across the different forms of foster care living composition, examine the relationship between placement stability and permanency outcomes, and examine the relationship between placement stability, permanency, and child well-being.