Advances in medical technologies and changing philosophies of health care have led to a rapid increase in home-based care for children with disabilities. While there are cost savings for health services if children are cared for at home there are extensive additional demands on the time and resources of parents, particularly primary caregivers, who are usually mothers. Previous studies have shown that parents caring for children with disabilities experience considerable stress and increased rates of mental health problems. The present dissertation investigated the impact of caring on the daily lives of parents and in particular, a model proposing factors contributing to parental psychological, social and health outcomes. A preliminary qualitative study found time demands to be a core theme when discussing the consequences of caring, and when describing tasks of caring. A second, larger scale quantitative study focused on assessing the time constraints facing parents of children with developmental disabilities. Participants were 95 primary caregivers (mostly mothers) and 65 secondary caregivers (mostly fathers) of children (mean age = 4½ years) with developmental disabilities who were clients of the Early Childhood Service, part of Disability Services SA. Children‟s diagnoses included global developmental delay, Down syndrome, and autism. Caring and other activities of parents were assessed using a 24 hour pre-coded time-use diary. Parents also completed questionnaires measuring characteristics of child disability; their experience of time pressure and partner support; and psychological, social and physical well-being. Examination of time-use diaries found parents of children with disabilities spent more time in “active” rather than “passive” caring tasks, than parents of children in the general community. As well, they spent less time in personal care, and less time in recreational activities. Intensity of caring, rather than total time caring was correlated with reports of daily stress for primary caregivers. Patterns of caring and non-caring activities carried out by primary caregivers on weekdays and weekend days differed from those undertaken by secondary caregivers, reflecting gender differences in parenting roles. Analysis of questionnaire data showed children to have high levels of emotional and behavioural problems. Parents (particularly primary caregivers) had significantly poorer psychological, social and physical health outcomes than normative samples. Feelings of time pressure had a stronger association with parental depression than actual time spent caring. Further, testing of the model showed time pressure and partner support to be potential mechanisms by which caring for a child with a disability may lead to poor parental mental health. It is suggested that professionals providing early intervention services need a greater awareness of the constraints of the caring role undertaken by parents, together with the key role played by feelings of time pressure and partner support in contributing to the mental health of parents of children with disabilities. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1346851 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, 2008

M.A. / The literature research focuses on the psycho-emotional impact of divorce, with reference to the primary school development life stage of the child. Of all age groups, Lakebrink (1989:327) found that the primary school child feels the most intense sense of sadness during the divorce process, due to the use of denial and fantasy, suffering without a means to relieve it, inability to sublimate feelings and an appearance of immobilisation. Children in this age group are particularly vulnerable to continuous parental conflict, have an intense need to maintain a constructive relationship with both parents and become pawns of co-parental struggle, and are vulnerable to loyalty ambivalence. The rationale for conducting the study and the aims to be achieved, are elaborated in the first section of this chapter. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to the introductory information to the study, namely, problem formulation, aims and objectives, research methodology, conceptualisation and summary of this chapter of the study. An overview of the structure and presentation of the study is also included.

M.A. (Clinical psychology) / A plethora of psychological research on the topic of divorce exists. The impact of parental divorce on the children, however, is much disputed in this literature. The present study‟s aim was to attempt to clarify this dilemma by describing the unique experiences of four adolescent males whose parents divorced when they were at a very young age. A qualitative research design was followed. Data was collected in the form of face-to-face interviews or „conversations‟ with the four respondents. Verbatim transcriptions of these conversations were then explored systematically from the hermeneutic tradition in order to understand the distinctive experiences of these four boys, from the time of their parents‟ divorce to the present. The findings from this exploration are in the form of various themes that were extrapolated from the transcriptions and clarified with reference to the existing findings in the literature. In addition, consistent with the hermeneutic tradition, co-construction of meaning was enhanced by the symbolic use of selected paintings. In summary, this study offers a description of four adolescent males‟ personal experiences of their parents‟ divorce, with the supplementary use of imagery and art in order to further enrich their subjective and often poignant narratives.

This study was designed to examine adolescent girls experience of their parents' divorce. A review of the literature on this subject indicated that little research had been conducted on the adolescents' experience of parental divorce. The literature also indicated that the painful event of divorce can precipitate a number of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive changes in children. This study utilized a phenomenological methodology. Specifically, the study sought to explore the participants' experience of parental divorce and interpret the results in conjunction with relevant theory. Eight girls from age sixteen to nineteen participated in the study. These girls came from a home where a divorce had occurred within a nine year range, but had occurred at least one year since the time of the interviews. The participants were interviewed twice. The interviews were analyzed using the data analysis process described by Giorgi (1975). This analysis revealed twelve topic areas which were descriptive of the participants' experience of divorce. These topics were then organized around four main content areas, or processes. These processes were the experience of the divorce, the process of adapting to environmental changes, the learning and growing process, and the process of restructuring meaning and moving toward resolution. The results were interpreted utilizing the literature on children from divorced homes, attribution theory, and just world theory. The present study shared many similarities with the literature on divorce, but differed in the degree of depression and maladjustment seen among the participants. The participants in this study, generally, were seen to highly-functioning, healthy individuals. The study also showed how the participants need for control in their lives was related to the theories posed by attribution theory and just world theory. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The proposed study examined the relationship between parental anxiety, measured both subjectively (via self-report questionnaires) and objectively (via salivary cortisol) and the child's feeding progress. Children diagnosed with a feeding disorder were recruited with their parents at Our Children's House at Baylor (n=19; 11 females, 8 males). The patients and their parents were housed in the clinic for an eight-week intensive multidisciplinary pediatric feeding disorder treatment program. Calorie intake was recorded daily as outcome measures of treatment progression. Parental anxiety was measured by the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), state anxiety on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and by salivary cortisol at three different time points. The present study attempted to examine whether parental feeding (phase three of treatment program) would continue to cause a decrease in the child's caloric intake. In averaging ten meals prior to parental feeding in comparison to the average of ten meals following parental feeding, there was no significant difference as measured by a t-test. Paired t-tests examined parental anxiety from time one to time two and found that salivary cortisol increased significantly t(15) = -6.07, p = .000 from Time 1 (M = 2.30, SD = 1.64) to Time 2 (M = 5.24, SD = 2.58). This demonstrated that while parental anxiety increased as measured by salivary cortisol, the children continued to make improvements. This may be the result of the multidisciplinary feeding program which encompassed a strong behavioral component and parent training. Even though the current results did not demonstrate a direct relationship between parental stress and caloric intake, parental stress as measured by salivary cortisol did increase.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy as a method of intervention for single parents and their children.

The Discouragement Scale for Adults (DSA) was developed to assess for the Adlerian construct of discouragement in adults age 18 years and over. Data were collected from three samples: norm (n=586), presumed discouraged (n=47), and parents of children with craniofacial anomaly (n=105). Five subscales corresponding to life tasks identified in Adlerian literature as work, love, society, self-significance, and spirituality underlie the 60 item DSA. Item selection was based on ratings by five notable Adlerians and item correlations with scale scores. Gender, age, and ethnicity norms were established for the norm, presumed discouraged, and craniofacial samples. Across three samples, no significant ethnic differences were found. Normative findings indicated females are less discouraged than males on the Total DSA, the society and spirituality subscales. Age findings indicated the 18-34 year old sample is more discouraged than other ages on the Total DSA, the work, society, and spirituality subscales. Presumed discouraged findings indicated females are less discouraged than males on the society subscale. Craniofacial findings indicated females are less discouraged on the society subscale, but more discouraged on the self-significance subscale than males. Age findings indicated the 18-34 year old sample is more discouraged than other ages on the self subscale. Research on CPA parents' relationship status, CPA child's birth order, parental role of adult to CFA child, length of time the parent has cared for CFA child, the CFA child's age, CFA parent's education level, and CFA child's craniofacial anomaly diagnosis was conducted. Findings indicated birthmothers are less discouraged than birthfathers on the society subscale, but more discouraged on the self-significance subscale. Internal consistency ratings of the DSA were .9392, .9496, and .9365 for three samples. Correlations to measures of social interest were negative and significant, reflecting an inverse relationship between discouragement and social interest. Factor analysis and interscale correlations are presented. Future research could include continued instrument validation and establishment of score ranges to indicate adult discouragement.

This investigation was designed to determine the relationships among single parents' parental stress, empathy, level of acceptance, perception of child problems, and child gender, and the effect of filial therapy training on these relationships. Filial therapy is a parent training approach utilized by play therapists to train parents to be therapeutic agents of change with their own children using child-centered play therapy skills. Parents are taught and given support in a group format. Data from a previous filial therapy study with single parents was utilized in this investigation. Correlational research methods were employed to examine the relationships among the variables measured. Correlation coefficients were obtained between each of the following five variables: parental stress, level of acceptance, empathy, perceived problems of the child, and child gender. Additionally, multiple and logistic regression was utilized in search of a possible predictive model. Significant correlations were found between parental stress and acceptance, parental stress and perception of child problems, parental empathy and acceptance, parental empathy and perception of child problems, and between parental acceptance and perception of child problems. No significant correlations were found between child gender and any of the variables. Significant correlation changes were found in several of the measured variables (from pre- to post-) due to the filial therapy intervention. Regression analysis indicated that parental acceptance was predictive of parental empathy, parental empathy was predictive of parental acceptance, and parental stress was predictive of parental perception of problems. No significant findings of prediction were obtained with child gender. This study supports filial therapy as an effective intervention with single parents, as well as the appropriateness of the assessment instruments commonly used in filial therapy research. The results of this research provide insight into those areas of the parent-child relationship impacted by filial therapy, as well as the relationships between the variables measured.

No description available.

Previous research has failed to identify a strong relationship between parental role involvement and self-esteem of parents despite theoretical and intuitive support for the prediction. An explanatory model of the interaction between role occupancy, psychological centrality of the role, and self-esteem among older parents was presented. Data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were used to test a path model examining the effects of the roles of parent, spouse, and worker, as well income, age, sex, and health on self-esteem. The data failed to support the model as presented. Role involvement did not affect self-esteem and psychological centrality had a direct effect instead of the proposed interactive effect. Health was the strongest predictor of self-esteem. In contrast to previous research, age negatively affected self-esteem in this sample. / Ph. D.