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Knowing our stories as Indigenous peoples is a powerful means of remembering and resurgence. My research used an Indigenous storytelling methodology to gather stories from my Grandmother about her life and our family. The purpose of this work was to learn more about my family stories and history as an Anishinaabe person, to honour my Grandmother by sharing part of her life story and to offer an example of Indigenous family-based research to other researchers. In contrast to strategies that focus on political mobilization, legal gains or state recognition, family-based research sees collective transformation as beginning with small-scale change, remembering and reconnection. Social work must expand its understanding of Indigenous resistance and resurgence to incorporate strategies that embrace w/holistic knowledges and encourage introspective and family-based questions in research. / Graduate / 0452 / 0740 / jlking@uvic.ca

Prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has tripled in the United States in the last 30 years, resulting in 31.8% of youth (ages 2-19 years of age) classified as overweight or obese.1,2 To date many high-intensity and medium-intensity programs have been developed and tested in efforts to ameliorate the high prevalence of childhood obesity, however there is a gap in the testing and implementation of low-intensity family-based treatments.3–7The Traffic Light Program is the only childhood obesity program that has published long-term outcomes and was developed by Epstein et. al., however it only includes children from ages 6-12. We developed an 8-week family based childhood obesity program (Healthy Hawkeye Program) to test the feasibility and efficacy of an adapted version (light intensity) of the Traffic Light Program in families of overweight and obese children. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test the efficacy of a low-intensity (21 hours) comprehensive family-based intervention specifically tailored for overweight and obese children from 6 to 17 years of age. Measures include body composition (weight, fat mass, lean body mass, body fat %, BMI, waist circumference), sedentary, light and moderate levels of physical activity (wrist-worn Generative Accelerometer), dietary quality (caloric intake, fruit/vegetable daily servings), measures of nutritional and physical activity self-efficacy, Lifestyle Behavior Checklist (LBC), Family Nutrition and Physical activity (FNPA) survey, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Healthy Hawkeye Program Evaluation Survey. We hypothesize that participants will improve in selected (1) health measures (weight, caloric intake, daily fruit intake, daily vegetable intake, sedentary, light, and moderate physical activity levels), (2) improve in selected theoretical constructs (self-efficacy, behaviors, environments), and (3) will find the Healthy Hawkeye Program acceptable and helpful. A total of five families were recruited and only 3 families (3 mothers, 2 male children, and 1 female child) completed the program (attended 6 of 8 weekly meetings). The very low sample size of only 3 families limited the statistical analysis. The results showed parents reduced their absolute weight by 5.6 lbs and children slightly increased by 0.1 lbs. Both parents and children decreased their daily sedentary time as well as increased their daily moderate activity. Various measures of self-efficacy, behaviors, nutrition improved among parents and children. Parents and children found the program to be acceptable and helpful.

Family, twin, and adoption studies have indicated that genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of alcohol dependence (AD). We conducted a low-density genome-wide association analysis to identify genetic variants influencing AD. We used 11,120 SNPs from the Affymetrix 10K Genechips genotyped in 116 Caucasian pedigrees (272 nuclear families) from Genetic Analysis Workshop 14, a subset from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Family-based association analyses for AD were performed by the PBAT program for autosomal SNPs and by the FBAT program for X-chromosome SNPs. We identified 37 SNPs associated with AD (P < 10 -3), thirteen of which were located in known genes. The most significant association with AD was observed with SNP rs1986644 (P = 8.51 × 10 -6) at 13q22 near EDNRB gene. The next best signal was at 1q41 in USH2A (rs532342, P = 1.07 × 10 -5) and the third region was at 3q25.31 in TIPARP (rs1367311, P = 2.31 × 10 -5). Furthermore, we found support for association of MAOA gene (P = 4.14 × 10 -4 for rs979606). Six of the 37 AD associated SNPs were confirmed to be associated with AD in Australian twin-family study sample (P < 0.05). Interestingly, four SNPs in DSCAML1 at 11q23 reached the genome-wide significance (the top SNP is rs10892169 with P = 5.31 × 10 -9), while rs637547 in NKAIN2 at 6q21 showed strong association with AD (P = 5.11 × 10 -7) in the replication sample. These findings offer the potential for new insights into the pathogenesis of AD and will serve as a resource for replication in other populations to elucidate the potential role of these genetic variants in AD.

Long term longitudinal surveys have the advantage to enable several sampling of the studied phenomena and then, with the repeated measures obtained, find a confirmed tendency. However, these long term surveys generate large epidemiological datasets including more sources of noise than normal datasets (e.g. one single measure per observation unit) and potential correlation in the measured values. Here, we studied data from a long-term epidemiological and genetic survey of malaria disease in two family-based cohorts in Senegal, followed for 19 years (1990-2008) in Dielmo and for 16 years (1993-2008) in Ndiop. The main objectives of this work were to take into account familial relationships, repeated measures as well as effect of covariates to measure both environmental and host genetic (heritability) impacts on the outcome of infection with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and then use findings from such analyses for linkage and association studies. The outcome of interest was the occurrence of a P. falciparum malaria attack during each trimester (PFA). The two villages were studied independently; epidemiological analyses, estimation of heritability and individual effects were then performed in each village separately. Linkage and association analyses used family-based methods (based on the original Transmission Disequilibrium Test) known to be immune from population stratification problems. Then to increase sample size for linkage and association analyses, data from the two villages were used together.

Family-based treatment for anorexia nervosa is a relatively recent form of therapy that is commonly used with families of child and adolescent patients. While current efficacy research of this treatment is promising, little research has been conducted on families' experiences of this treatment. This qualitative study investigates the experiences of parents who have participated in family-based treatment for a child or adolescent (ages 10-21) diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Analytic induction (AI) methodology was used in this qualitative study to examine the various factors contributing the effectiveness of family-based treatment for families. Purposeful sampling was employed to obtain a wide variety of participants. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 parents via telephone or web-based chat. These interviews were coded and analyzed to generate themes, which were combined to form a theory regarding which factors influence families' treatment outcomes when using FBT-AN. Sufficient and necessary conditions of successful and unsuccessful treatment outcomes were identified. Two sufficient conditions of treatment success were identified--namely, that parents were provided with practical suggestions by their treatment teams and that parents were able to implement their treatment teams' advice at home. Eighteen themes were identified as being necessary, but not sufficient, conditions to treatment success. These themes related to aspects of treatment sessions and treatment providers' relationships with parents; parental, familial, and other supportive relationships; and the processes of re-feeding, exposure to food, and parental monitoring and oversight. Two necessary conditions of unsuccessful treatment outcome were identified. The first condition was that the time period during which the child or adolescent restored weight was prolonged, or greater than six months. The second necessary condition was that the child demonstrated inconsistent progress during FBT. Additional themes present across treatment outcomes were also explored. This study aims to highlight the diverse experiences of parents who have participated in family-based treatment for anorexia nervosa and to serve as a resource for clinicians and researchers providing this treatment. Potential clinical and research applications of the study's results are discussed.

This study involved families of young children with autism spectrum disorders to examine the feasibility of implementing an adapted version of the school-based Prevent-Teach- Reinforce (PTR) model. This research included two families who developed and implemented the intervention for their children in collaboration with the researcher. The PTR manual was modified for use in a family context. The PTR intervention was tested using a multiple baseline design across routines. Procedural fidelity was assessed during training and coaching, as well as family implementation fidelity and social validity. To examine the potential efficacy of the adapted PTR intervention, the children’s target problem behavior and functionally equivalent alternative behavior were measured using video observation across experimental conditions including a generalization probe. Results indicated that the adapted PTR model is associated with reduction in child problem behavior and increases in alternative behavior. This study expanded the current research on the PTR model and extended its use to a novel setting and population so that a standardized model for positive behavior support implementation can be developed in the family context.

Statistical methods that integrate between-individual (IA) and within-family (FA) genetic association analyses can increase statistical power to identify disease susceptibility genes, however combining IA and FA is valid only when the IA are free of population stratification bias (PSB). Existing methods initially test for PSB by comparing IA and FA results using an arbitrary testing level αPSB, typically 5%. Combined analyses are performed if no significant PSB is detected, otherwise analyses are restricted to FA. As a novel alternative, we propose a weighted (WGT) framework that combines the estimate from the most powerful analysis subject to PSB with the most powerful robust FA estimate, using weights based on the p-value from the PSB test. The WGT approach generalizes existing methods by using a continuous weighting function that depends only on the observed PSB p-value instead of a binary one that also depends on specification of an arbitrary PSB testing level αPSB. Simulations of quantitative trait and case-control data show that in comparison to existing methods, the WGT approach has 5% type I error closer to the nominal level, increased (decreased) accuracy for larger (smaller) PSB levels, and overall increased positive predictive value. The resulting PSB correction is SNP-specific and provides a good compromise between type I error control and power in candidate gene or confirmation studies limited to few loci, when PSB is likely and there are no additional empirical data available to correct PSB. We applied the WGT approach to a case-control study of childhood leukemia and a study of diabetes complications with time-to-event outcomes derived from repeated measurements obtained over 17 years of follow-up. To directly analyze the longitudinal measurements without specification of event thresholds, we developed fully Bayesian latent change-point time (LCPT) models for IA and FA. In analogy with the WGT approach, we also considered an extended LCPT model incorporating PSB evidence in analyses combining IA and FA.

Statistical methods that integrate between-individual (IA) and within-family (FA) genetic association analyses can increase statistical power to identify disease susceptibility genes, however combining IA and FA is valid only when the IA are free of population stratification bias (PSB). Existing methods initially test for PSB by comparing IA and FA results using an arbitrary testing level αPSB, typically 5%. Combined analyses are performed if no significant PSB is detected, otherwise analyses are restricted to FA. As a novel alternative, we propose a weighted (WGT) framework that combines the estimate from the most powerful analysis subject to PSB with the most powerful robust FA estimate, using weights based on the p-value from the PSB test. The WGT approach generalizes existing methods by using a continuous weighting function that depends only on the observed PSB p-value instead of a binary one that also depends on specification of an arbitrary PSB testing level αPSB. Simulations of quantitative trait and case-control data show that in comparison to existing methods, the WGT approach has 5% type I error closer to the nominal level, increased (decreased) accuracy for larger (smaller) PSB levels, and overall increased positive predictive value. The resulting PSB correction is SNP-specific and provides a good compromise between type I error control and power in candidate gene or confirmation studies limited to few loci, when PSB is likely and there are no additional empirical data available to correct PSB. We applied the WGT approach to a case-control study of childhood leukemia and a study of diabetes complications with time-to-event outcomes derived from repeated measurements obtained over 17 years of follow-up. To directly analyze the longitudinal measurements without specification of event thresholds, we developed fully Bayesian latent change-point time (LCPT) models for IA and FA. In analogy with the WGT approach, we also considered an extended LCPT model incorporating PSB evidence in analyses combining IA and FA.

Although music therapy work with families has been documented for many years, the focus has remained on techniques and client outcomes rather than therapeutic process. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding and knowledge of the lived experience of music therapists who practice family-based music therapy. This research was conducted within the interpretative phenomenological framework. Three subjects who provided family-based music therapy participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences. Three main interpretative themes emerged from the analysis of the data relative to the therapists’ expressed experience of their work with families: perseverance, resilience, and faith in the process. Discussion of the results, strengths and limitations of the study, and implications for training and further research are presented. / February 2016