MSc Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / HIV is having devastating effects on Africa as a whole and more specifically on Sub-Saharan Africa. Children are vulnerable to the disease and in most cases being hit the hardest. Parenting at the best of times involves some form of stress, and caring for a chronically ill child increases the parenting stress levels. Antiretroviral treatment has a positive effect on children with HIV, however it is not well understood what effect antiretroviral treatment has on the parenting stress levels of the caregivers of children with HIV. The aim of the study was to establish whether caregivers of children diagnosed with HIV show a change in stress levels after commencement of anti-retroviral treatment for their children. The objectives of the study were: to determine if any of the subsections of the PSI-SF were affected by the commencement of antiretroviral treatment in the children; to determine if a correlation existed between the CD4 count of the child and the parenting stress level of the caregiver and to determine whether the age of the child impacted on the scores of the PSI-SF. The demographic data of the participants were also analysed. This study involved secondary analysis of existing data for the study "A longitudinal study of neurodevelopmental delay in HIV positive children" conducted by Joanne Potterton utilising a longitudinal pre-post test study design where participants were compared to their own baseline scores. The Parenting Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF) was used to establish the parenting stress levels within its three different subsections. The PSI-SF was completed by the caregivers at visit one, two and three. These visits were to the Harriet Shezi Clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, Johannesburg. The children were antiretroviral naïve at visit one, and at visit two which was six months later, they commenced antiretroviral treatment with a six months follow-up which was visit three. iv Forty-five participants were included in the study. The paired ‘t’ test showed a significant change (‘p’ = 0.02) in the subsections Parent Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child(change in mean -3.31 and -2.78 respectively), while the subsection of Parenting Distress had no significant change between visit one and visit two (change in mean -2.09). The change in mean between visit two and three was -1.84 for the Parental Distress subsection, 0.6 for the Parenting Child Dysfunctional Interaction subsection and 0.8 for the Difficult Child subsection. The paired ‘t’ test was applied to visit one and three and the subsection Parenting Distress showed the greatest positive change of 'p' = 0.00 with a change in mean of -3.93. There was no correlation between the CD4 count of the child and the PSI of the caregiver at any of the visits (r=-0.2, 0.11,0.3, p=0.15, 0.5, 0.06 respectively). There was no correlation between the age of the child and the parenting stress of the caregiver at any of the visits (r=0.13,0.08,0.5 p=0.39,0.6 and 0.1 respectively). The stress levels of the caregivers decreased over the study period however there was no significant decrease with the commencement of antiretroviral treatment.

MSc, Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009

Parents of children with developmental disabilities have been reported to experience higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children. This stress has been found to lead to adverse effects for both parents and children. Respite has been found to be a buffer of stress in the short term. The objective of this study was to: determine the types of respite Saskatchewan parents are using; and examine the correlational relationship between formal and informal respite use and child behaviour concerns, child adaptive skills, and parental stress. Open-ended questions related to additional influences on respite use were also analyzed. The current study examined respite use in 26 parents in Saskatchewan who have children between the ages of 6 and 18 with a diagnosed developmental disability. The Respite Information Questionnaire (adapted from Preece & Jordon, 2007) was used to explore the types and hours of respite use, child behaviour concerns, and child adaptive needs. Parental stress levels were measured with the Parental Stress Scale (Berry & Jones, 1995). Descriptive statistics, correlations and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests were used to analyze data gathered from the questionnaire and Parental Stress Scale. Results from this research showed that Saskatchewan parents used a range of formal (e.g., care homes, trained individual respite providers) and informal respite (e.g., siblings, grandparents) both in type and hours of use. No relationship was found between formal and informal respite use and child adaptive skills or parental stress. A preliminary relationship between child behavioural concerns and stress was found, indicating that as child behavioural concerns increase so does formal respite use. However, a basic thematic analysis of open-ended questions showed that parents felt respite services were limited as a result of their child`s behavioral concerns. This suggests child behavioural concerns should be considered in respite policy and program development.

Research consistently demonstrates parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience more parental stress than parents with children in any other developmental category (Hayes & Watson, 2013). Previous research has begun investigating the use of ACT protocols as an intervention to increase psychological flexibility and reduce stress among this population (Hahs, Dixon, and Palilunas, 2018). Due to evidence provided in the literature demonstrating ACT as an effective intervention for parents of individuals with ASD, the current study conducted an evaluation of a brief ACT training in comparison with a traditional parent support group for this population. Participants of the study were twenty caregivers of an individual diagnosed with ASD. Each intervention consisted of two, two-hour sessions. Participants were provided with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II and Parental Stress Scale pre and post intervention. Independent t-tests were ran in order to determine if mean change scores differed on the questionnaires across the ACT and TAU groups. Results of the independent t-test indicated that the difference in mean change scores of the AAQ-II across groups was statistically significant, however the difference in mean change scores of the PSS were not. Clinical implications are offered.

This applied dissertation study was designed to inform and advance knowledge by using a quantitative approach to determine if perceived parental stress in homeschooling parents varies as a function of age, income, education, and ethnicity. Previous research in the field of homeschooling has primarily been qualitative in nature, thus, leaving a gap in the research. Home schooling parents of K-6 grade children in South Florida districts were specified as the sample for the study. A perceived Stress Survey and demographic questionnaire were administered to 102 participants. Parental participants were male and female, all ethnicity, and ages 18 and older, who were homeschooling K-6th grade children in South Florida. Inferential statistics were used to draw conclusions from the sample tested. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 was used to code and tabulate scores collected from the survey and provide summarized values where applicable. Logistic regression analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to evaluate the two Research Questions and hypotheses. Analysis of the primary data indicated that age, income, level of education, ethnicity and number of children homeschooled had no significant effect on perceived stress. Implication from findings suggests that behavioral characteristics of the child may mediate the relationship between stress and parental characteristics. The study is a valuable addition to the homeschooling research community as it aligns with and extends findings from previous research.

Objectives: There is body of evidence that suggests parents who have a child with a learning disability experience increased stress levels. In addition, research has found a bidirectional relationship between parental stress and child challenging behaviour. Other investigations in this area have found parental stress to be a significant predictor of intervention outcome, and it has been suggested that it should be targeted prior to any child focused intervention. The aim of the current study is to examine the effectiveness of an intervention that targets both parental stress and child challenging behaviour, in families who have a child with a learning disability Design & Method: The study employed a questionnaire based, quantitative, within and between groups methodology. The design included two groups, both parents of children with learning disabilities. Group one, attended three sessions targeting parental stress and three on child challenging behaviour and completed measures on parental stress, mood, coping and child behaviour. Group two, received ‘treatment as normal’ and completed the same measures. Results: Correlations were conducted to look at the relationship between parental stress, coping, mood and child behaviour. The results partially supported a relationship between parental stress, child challenging behaviour and coping. The ANOVA revealed a significant decrease in anxiety scores for the intervention group over time. The results provide some support the effectiveness of the sessions in reducing parental stress but not child challenging behaviour. Conclusions: The findings provide some support for the use of a brief intervention for parents who have a child with a learning disability. The results indicate high levels of stress and child challenging behaviour, which has been linked to increased risk of mental health problems in both child and parents. The current intervention may be appropriative for families with lower levels of stress and behaviour problems, and alternative approaches may be more suitable to families with chronic difficulties.

The typical duties of parenting may be multiplied when they must be performed within very demanding situations and with limited personal and physical resources. African American families may also be subject to race-related challenges that further complicate child rearing. In an effort to combat the effect of imminent racism, some African American parents have sought to racially socialize their children. Within the racial socialization literature, it has been determined that racially socializing one’s children has positive effects for those children, however, there is some ambiguity regarding the way it is best done. Although racist acts cannot be predicted nor avoided, parents can likely prevent their children’s effects by racially socializing them. If this is done appropriately, and parents feel secure in their preparation it will likely buffer the effects of racism their children feel, which may impact their level of parental stress. However, no literature exists that examines the parental effects of racially socializing one’s children. Therefore, this project proposes to 1) examine whether there is a correlation between racial socialization and parental stress in African American parents and to 2) determine whether being exposed to a racial socialization intervention significantly reduces parental stress from pre-test to post-test as compared to the control and comparison groups. 159 African American mothers were randomly assigned to 3 groups, a control, experimental and comparison group, and administered pre and post tests on a scale of racial socialization (SORS-P), affective mood state (POMS-B), and parental stress (PSI). A hierarchical multiple linear regression was conducted to determine whether racial socialization beliefs predict parental stress after controlling for mood. It found that racial socialization beliefs accounted for an additional significant proportion of the variance in parental stress. A preliminary MANOVA was run to determine if there was a significant difference between groups’ baseline levels of mood and racial socialization beliefs. Hypothesis 2 was tested by running a (2 X 3) Time (pre-test and post-test) X Group Assignment (intervention, comparison group, control) mixed design ANCOVA. As predicted, changes in parental stress from pre-test to post-test depended on the group assignment. Study results highlighted the importance of racial socialization interventions to reduce parental stress that may accompany racist encounters with their children.

Language skills developed in early childhood are important for literacy and communication in childhood as well as future adult literacy skills and health. Certain demographic characteristics and parent-child interaction skills have been identified through previous research as being influential in child language development. Parental stress has also been associated with child language outcomes. This study aims to explore whether parents’ interactive relational skills, measured by an observational method, are significantly related to children’s verbal outcome, while controlling for demographic variables and parental stress. Participants included mothers of children aged 4-6 who completed measures of parental interaction quality, parental stress, and demographic characteristics. Their children competed a language skill measure. Results indicated that even when controlling for demographic variables and parental stress, the relationship between parent-child interaction quality and child language outcomes remained significant. These findings suggest that increasing positive parent-child interaction skills may be beneficial for increasing children’s language skills.

In modern society, the role of fathers in parenthood tends to be as considered as the role of mothers. Becoming parent can lead to some positive effects, but also to some negative ones, which may have serious consequences on both parents and on the child. The purpose of the present work was to investigate whether a difference of a specific postpartum effect with regard to levels of perceived stress could be noticed in Swedish and French men who just became fathers for the first time. In this study, we pointed out the stress in daily life and the stress related to the role as a parent. All participants (nSwedish = 20; nFrench = 31) were men who became fathers for the first time a year or less before the measurement of stress. A questionnaire was submitted online and the data were analyzed using t-tests in order to measure the differences between French and Swedish regarding stress and ANCOVAs in order to measure if age and duration of the relationship have an impact on stress level. The results showed that Swedish fathers have a significantly higher perceived stress level than French fathers. However, there is no effect of age and duration of the relationship on the results. Moreover, no differences were found with respect to fathers’ parenting stress level.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka blivande mammors och pappors upplevelser av stress inför och under föräldraskapet och jämföra eventuella skillnader. Metod. Blivande föräldrar i Västernorrland rekryterades till studien i samband med rutinultraljudet. Föräldrarna besvarade en enkät vid tre tillfällen, i mitten på graviditeten, två månader samt ett år efter förlossningen. Svaren har analyserats med SPSS. Resultat. Resultatet visade att det föreligger skillnader mellan blivande föräldrars upplevelser av stress. Stress mätt över tid minskade bland mammor respektive bland pappor. Det fanns även skillnader i upplevelser av stress i relation till bakgrundsfaktorer. Under graviditeten var upplevelsen av stress störst bland de i åldersgruppen 25-35 år, de som väntade sitt första barn samt de med en högre utbildning. Två månader efter förlossningen uppgav nyblivna mammor, de i åldersgruppen 25-35 samt de som fått sitt första barn en högre stress. Ett år efter förlossningen förelåg endast en skillnad mellan mammor och pappor, där mammor var mer stressade. Konklusion. Det föreligger skillnader mellan mammor och pappors upplevelser av stress. För ökad förståelse och för att kunna erbjuda adekvat stöd till blivande föräldrar bör ytterligare forskning bedrivas. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the prospective mothers 'and fathers ' experiences of stress before and during parenthood and compare any differences. Method. Expectant parents in Västernorrland enrolled in the study in conjunction with routine ultrasound. Parents answered a questionnaire on three occasions, in the middle of pregnancy, two months and one year after childbirth. The responses were analyzed with SPSS. Results. The results showed that there are differences between the prospective parents' experiences of stress. Estimated stress measured over time fell among mothers and among fathers. There were also differences in the experience of stress in relation to background factors. During pregnancy, the experience of stress was greatest in those aged 25-35 years, those who were expecting their first child and those with a higher education. Two months after delivery indicated that mothers,those who were aged 25-35 years, and those who had their first child a higher level of stress. A year after giving birth was only one difference between mothers and fathers, where mothers were more stressed. Conclusion. There are differences between mothers 'and fathers ' experiences of stress. For better understanding and to provide adequate support to expectant parents, further research should be conducted.