Families are now often the primary caretakers of severely psychiatrically disabled relatives, also referred to as the chronically mentally ill (CMI). As a result, families report experiencing stressors such as a lack of psychosocial resources, disturbance in family routine, and increased financial problems--in addition to feelings of guilt and embarrassment. Research has indicated that the families need education, support, and training in coping skills. La Frontera Center, Inc. (LFC), a comprehensive community mental health agency in Tucson, Arizona, provided both education and support to families of the severely psychiatrically disabled. The education essentially involved providing families with knowledge regarding schizophrenia; support was available through a task-oriented self-help group. The purpose of the present research was to develop a complementary coping skills training program, and investigate its effectiveness. The research was conducted through two separate studies. The first study compared subjects who received the skills training, and education, with subjects who received education only. The second study utilized members from the LFC support/advocacy group who had previously attended the education class. One-half of these subjects received the skills training, while continuing involvement with the support group, and were compared to subjects who were involved with support only. In each study, subjects were randomly assigned to either the treatment or comparison group. Both designs involved repeated measures, with data analyzed according to an analysis of covariance statistical procedure. Though the hypotheses were not supported statistically in the first study, a number of results were statistically significant in the second study, and did support the hypotheses, including treatment subjects experiencing decreased anxiety, decreased depression, decreased conflict within the family, and increased social functioning and use of community resources.

This exploratory study was designed to discover the culture of living with a head injured spouse. Using the ethnographic approach, five spouses of head injured survivors were interviewed. Analysis of data yielded five domains of meaning: concerns as a result of role transition, social isolation, loss, future and coping. Two cultural themes emerged as "no one understands" and a "wish list." Implications for nursing practice include increasing awareness of health care professionals regarding perceptions and needs of spouses of head injured survivors.

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.

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.

Bao, Luoman. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-61). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.7 / Generalized Reciprocity --- p.7 / Altruistic Norm of Filial Piety --- p.9 / Affective Connection in Adult Child-Parent Relationship --- p.11 / Gender Disparity in Caregiving --- p.13 / THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK --- p.15 / METHOD --- p.20 / Data Sources --- p.20 / Dependent Variable --- p.21 / Independent Variables --- p.22 / Controls --- p.26 / Statistical Procedure --- p.28 / RESULTS --- p.34 / Intergenerational support and its gendered pattern in Taiwan families --- p.34 / Financial Support --- p.37 / Phone Contact and Face-to-face Contact --- p.40 / DISCUSSION --- p.48 / REFERENCES --- p.56 / Figure1. Three mechanisms of supporting elderly parents --- p.15 / Figure2. Mechanism of generalized reciprocity --- p.16 / Figure3. Mechanism of altruistic norm of filial piety --- p.18 / Figure4. Mechanism of affective connection --- p.19 / Table 1. Time Point of the Variables been Measured --- p.29 / Table2. Financial Support Provided from Child to Parents --- p.30 / Table3. Contact between Child and Parents --- p.31 / Table4. Distribution of Explanatory Variables --- p.32 / Table5. Children's and Parents' Characteristics in 2006 --- p.33 / Table6. Means and Percentage Distributions of Variable: Gendered Pattern in 2006 --- p.44 / Table7. Determinants of Financial Support from Children to Elderly Parents in 2006 --- p.45 / Table8. Determinants of Phone Contact between Children and Elderly Parents in 2006 --- p.46 / Table9. Determinants of Face-to-face Contact between Children and Elderly Parents in 2006 --- p.47 / Table 10. The Effectiveness of Three Mechanisms in Explaining Elderly Care --- p.48

That graduate study is detrimental to marriages has received empirical support. This study utilized systems theory to examine and help explain the dissolution process of graduate student marriages. Specifically, it examined the impact of marital structure on perceptions of marital quality. Drawing primarily from Scheinkman's (1988) qualitative study, spouses in asymmetrical marriages (i.e., marriages where only one spouse is in graduate school), as opposed to symmetrical marriages (i.e., marriages where both spouses are in graduate school), were hypothesized to report (a) less satisfaction with the division of household labor, (b) lower perceptions of equity, and (c) less satisfaction with emotional intimacy. These, in turn, were hypothesized to lower perceptions of marital quality. Participants from a list of master's and doctoral-level students at a west coast university in the United States were randomly selected and contacted by phone. Only married students and their partners were solicited for participation. The final sample consisted of 121 married individuals (60 husband-wife pairs, 1 female) who responded to a mailed questionnaire. Of these 121 respondents, 85 were involved in asymmetrical arrangements and 36 in symmetrical arrangements. Contrary to expectations, asymmetry did not indirectly (and negatively) affect marital quality through satisfaction with the division of household labor and perception of equity. There was, however, some evidence that asymmetry negatively influenced marital quality by lowering spouses' satisfaction with emotional intimacy. This latter finding was considered to be meaningfully significant because satisfaction with emotional intimacy was by far the strongest predictor of marital quality. The findings are discussed primarily in terms of the education level of each spouse. Reconceptualizing asymmetry as an educational or power differential, or even more generally as a difference in emotional experiences, is recommended. In other words, it is not the number of spouses in school per se that matters; it is the understanding and emotional connectedness between them. / Graduation date: 1997

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

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