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Objective: The Casey Foster Applicant Inventory-Applicant Version (CFAI-A) is a new standardized self-report measure designed to assess the potential to foster parent successfully. The CFAI-A is described, and results concerning its psychometric properties are presented. Method: Data from a sample of 304 foster mothers from 35 states are analyzed. Results: Six CFAI-A subscales were identified, and internal consistency reliability for these subscales ranged from.64 to.95. The construct validity of all but one of these subscales is promising. Conclusions: The CFAI-A shows promise for use in research and practice, where it might be used to improve decisions about how to support, monitor, and retain foster families and to match, place, and maintain foster children with foster families.

Unplanned hospital admissions (UHA) in older adult populations are a recurring problem in older adults with cancer. Older adults comprise approximately 60% of cancer diagnoses and receive the majority of cancer treatment. However, little is known about why older adults under treatment for cancer experience a high number of unplanned hospital admissions. A review of the literature provided few study findings and a gap in the current knowledge was identified regarding the factors associated with unplanned hospital admissions in older adults under treatment for cancer. A conceptual framework based on the literature and this researcher's clinical experienced guided this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors related to unplanned hospital admissions and determine if one or more factors are predictive of unplanned hospital admissions of older adults with cancer. A convenience sample of 129 dyads of older adults with cancer and their family caregivers were approached and enrolled in the adult oncology outpatient infusion centers and inpatient units within a community cancer center in central Florida. Patient demographic and clinical data were obtained through a retrospective medical record review. Family caregiver demographic and side effect knowledge data was collected prospectively during interviews with family caregivers using a newly developed tool, Nurse Assessment of Family Caregiver Knowledge and Action Tool (NAFCKAT). The NAFCKAT contains 11 items to determine baseline knowledge about side effects and plan for managing side effects. A fever subsection consists of 4 knowledge and 2 action questions and a dehydration subsection consists of 2 knowledge and 2 action questions. Preliminary research was conducted to determine reliability and validity of the NAFCKAT. Excellent inter-reliability was found for the tool and preliminary support for validity was determined for the fever subscale. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate data collected from patient medical records and NAFCKAT scores. Study findings revealed that unplanned hospital admissions were more likely to occur when older adults had the presence of impaired function prior to treatment initiation and/or experienced side effects of infection /fever and vomiting/diarrhea during treatment. The presence of impaired function and family caregiver support (knowledge and availability) did not moderate the relationship between side effects and unplanned hospital admissions. Findings suggest that the presence of impaired function and side effects of infection and fever, and vomiting and diarrhea, predict unplanned hospital admissions in older adults during the active cancer treatment phase. Nurses should advocate for and conduct targeted assessments to identify the presence of functional impairments prior to cancer treatment initiation. In addition, nurses should actively monitor for the presence of cancer treatment-related side effects during the treatment phase of the cancer trajectory. Information gained from these assessments will assist nurses to provide practical and tailored strategies to support older adults and their family caregivers during cancer treatment and reduce the risk for unplanned hospital admissions.

The aim of the study was to gain knowledge about what role the foster carers’ biological children play in foster family care and also gain a deeper understanding of the biological children´s significance in a foster family care arrangement. The aim of the study has been conducted through the perspective of the Social services. The data collection consists of eight individual qualitative and semi-structured interviews with social workers who are currently working with foster families there biological children are living at home. The new childhood sociology and the concept of participation serve as the base of the theoretical framework and have been applied to the analysis of this study. The study shows that the respondents have a positive attitude towards the biological children´s presence in the foster families. They value the biological children´s function in the families as important and should thus not be forgotten. At the same time, there are no clear guidelines for how the social worker should work with foster carers’ biological children. The contact between the social worker and the biological children mostly goes through the children’s parents. The role of the biological children is not always clearly defined in the foster family care arrangement and their involvement can be perceived as insignificant. Furthermore the respondents terminates that no special support designed for biological children in foster families exists. Several respondents also reflect upon that they want to avoid burdening the biological children with responsibility that is not theirs to bear. The role of the biological children in the foster family care and their significance in the foster family care arrangement concludes therefore acknowledged by the social worker but not always recognized.

The objective of my work has been to monitor the opinions of social workers operating within the departments of social and legal protection of children at village municipalities with an extended scope of authority in the South Bohemian region as related to the problems of child care and education in substitute family care from the perspective of a social worker. The second objective has been to map the situation of children registered by the departments of social and legal protection of children of South Bohemia, the substitute family care of which was terminated before the 18th year of child´s age during the years 2003 {--} 2009. Due to significant reasons substitute family care, with the exception of adoption, can be terminated earlier. This presents a difficult situation both for the foster parents and for the foster children put into substitute family care. The results of my work have shown that most social workers do not lack the assistance of professional facilities that would support foster families in their regions. The most common reason for the termination of substitute family care before the 18th year of child´s age have been educational problems involving a whole range of issues. For most children, the termination of substitute family care resulted in institutional care {--} youth educational centers.

The diploma thesis entitled " Applicants preparation for an adoption and foster care" consists of two parts, the first is a theoretical part and the second part is practical. The theoretical part contains of eleven chapters. Professional literature, articles, quire, webpages and more were used to develop the theoretical part. The theoretical part is focused on the concept of substitute family care, description of forms of substitute family care, description of the arranging process of substitute family care, preparation of applicants, topics of preparátory courses. The practical part contains of the results of quantitative research, which are shown using graphs. The graphs describe the detection of quantitative research using an anonymous open-ended questionnaire. The practical part of the diploma thesis answers the questions of what motivations applicants for substitute family care have, the questions of the process of substitute family care and, last but not least, the questions concerning the preparation of applicants. The discussion is a final chapter of this thesis.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Afknouery is ’n algemene verskynsel onder laerskoolkinders. Alhoewel afknouery dikwels as ’n normale deel van die grootwordproses beskou word, dui verskeie ondersoeke op die negatiewe sosiale, sielkundige en fisiese gevolge wat daarmee gepaard gaan. Wanneer ’n kind geboelie word, raak dit noodwendig die hele gesin. Elke gesin het egter unieke eienskappe of maniere om krisisse (soos afknouery) te hanteer en daarby aan te pas. Gesinsveerkragtigheid verwys na die gesin se vermoë om weerstand te bied teen, en te herstel na, ontwrigtende lewensuitdagings. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om vas te stel watter gesinskenmerke geassosieer kan word met goeie aanpassing van gesinne waarvan ’n kind geboelie word. Die studiepopulasie was gesinne met laerskoolkinders wat vir ses maande of langer geboelie is in die voorafgaande drie jaar, en wat in die Suid-Kaap woon. Ma’s het as verteenwoordigers van hul gesinne opgetree en namens die gesinne aan die ondersoek deelgeneem. Agt-en-veertig verteenwoordigers van gesinne het elk sewe selfvoltooiingsvraelyste asook ’n biografiese vraelys met twee oop einde-vrae voltooi. Die resultate van die kwalitatiewe data het getoon dat gesinne veral deur die afknouery geraak is deurdat die kinders wat geboelie is, negatiewe emosies soos hartseer ervaar het. Die meeste gesinne het die afknouery hanteer deur met ’n onderwyser, skoolhoof of die beheerliggaam te gaan praat, of deur raad te gee aan die kind wat geboelie is. Die resultate van die kwantitatiewe data, wat met behulp van korrelasies en regressie-ontledings verkry is, het die volgende gesinsveerkragtigheidskenmerke geïdentifiseer: die kwaliteit van gesinskommunikasie, positiewe kommunikasiepatrone wat omgee en ondersteuning oordra, standvastigheid en duursaamheid van die gesinseenheid, die gesin se gevoel van interne sterk punte, betroubaarheid en die vermoë om saam te werk, die gesin se pogings om vernuwend en aktief te wees, om nuwe dinge te probeer en om te leer, die mate waartoe die gesin roetines gebruik en handhaaf, die gesin se klem op die vasstelling van voorspelbare kommunikasie tussen ouer en kind, die gesin se klem op die vasstelling van voorspelbare roetines om ’n kind se gevoel van selfbestuur en orde te bevorder, asook die gesin se klem op saamwees. Die bevindinge van hierdie ondersoek vul ’n leemte in die literatuur oor gesinne waarvan ’n kind geboelie word. Dit kan nuttig aangewend word in die beplanning en ontwikkeling van intervensies om hierdie gesinne te versterk en meer veerkragtig te maak. Die geïdentifiseerde gesinskenmerke laat ook die moontlikheid oop vir verdere navorsing om hierdie kenmerke in meer besonderhede te ondersoek en te beskryf. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Bullying is a common phenomenon among primary school children. Although bullying is often seen as a relatively normal part of growing up, various studies have indicated its negative social, psychological and physical effects. When a child is bullied, the matter inevitably concerns the whole family. However, every family has unique characteristics or ways of handling and adapting to a crisis (such as bullying). Family resilience refers to the family’s ability to withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges. The goal of this study was to determine which family characteristics can be associated with positive adaptation in families of which a child had been bullied. The study population consisted of families with primary school children that had been bullied for six months or longer over the past three years, and reside in the Southern Cape. Mothers acted as representatives and participated in the study on behalf of their families. Forty eight family representatives each completed seven self-completing questionnaires as well as a biographical questionnaire containing two open ended questions. Results from the qualitative data, which was analysed using content analysis, showed that families were affected by the bullying, especially in the sense that the children that were bullied experienced negative emotions such as sadness. Most of the families coped with the bulling by talking to a teacher, principal or governing body, or by giving advice to the child that had been bullied. Results from the quantitative data, which was analysed using correlations and regression analyses, indicated positive correlations between family adaptation and quality of family communication, positive communication patterns that convey caring and support, fortitude and durability of the family unit, the family’s sense of internal strengths, dependability and the ability to work together, the family’s efforts to be innovative and active, to experience new things and to learn, the degree to which families use and maintain routines, the family’s emphasis on establishing predictable communication between parent and child, the family’s emphasis on establishing predictable routines to promote a child’s sense of autonomy and order, as well as the family’s emphasis on togetherness. The findings of the study fill a gap in the literature about families in which a child has been bullied. The findings can be utilised in the planning and developing of interventions to strengthen these families and to make them more resilient. The identified family characteristics also leave the possibility of further research to investigate and describe these characteristics in greater detail.

Theoretical part of this thesis deals with description of substitutional family care and its types. Importance of family care for child's development is emphasized at the beginning of the thesis. Further legislation of the substitutional family care and also terms of its mediation are described. The theoretical part deals with history of the substitutional family care in our country and also in other countries. Then some weaknesses of the substitutional family care and its system are mentioned. Second part of the thesis contains research with several chosen caseworkers who work in branch of the substitutional family care. Detection of respondents' opinions about education and personality predispositions for good practise of profession is the aim of the research.

This diploma thesis deals with the institute of foster care. Foster care has been a widely discussed issue lately, in the field of family law. After years of theoretical considerations, discussions and preparations, a lot of significant changes have been made in this area, which have been incorporated into the new Civil Code and have been defined by the Amendment No. 401/2012 of the Coll., of the Act on Social-Legal Protection of children. The main objective of such changes is to professionalize foster care, and thus create an alternative to institutional care, to make foster care work in a more efficient way, to lower the risks of failure in daily practice, and to increase a notion of such form of substitute care in public. On the very top of general ideas and considerations remains especially the best interest and well being of a foster child. The emphasis is laid on the child's right to grow up in a background of a family and on help provided to a family with an endangered child. The diploma thesis is divided into seventeen chapters. First chapter gives an introduction to the issue of substitute care and talks about individual forms of such care. Second chapter presents a historical view into the individual phases of the development of foster care. Third chapter is dedicated to state and international...