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This study focused on the impact that multiple sclerosis (MS) has on the sexual relationship of couples who experienced the diagnosis of MS after the establishment of a sexual relationship. While it is known that this disease can disrupt sexual functioning of individuals, little is known about how MS affects the sexual relationship of couples. Couples coping with the diagnosis of a serious chronic disease like MS in one spouse are likely at particular risk for disruption of the sexual bond. Rolland's Family Systems-Illness Model (FSIM) can provide a framework for understanding the effect of a chronic illness on a couple system. Sixteen couples were interviewed using an interview protocol based on the FSIM. The couples also completed two questionnaires: the Sexual History Form (SHF) and the Disease Acceptance Scale (DAS). The results of this study indicate that these couples had a low rate of sexual activity. Degree of physical disability in the spouse with MS or the type of MS was not predictive of sexual relating. Disease acceptance did not appear to be related to the level of sexual activity in these couples or their desire for sexual activity. Sexual dysfunction had a modest negative relationship with sexual satisfaction for well spouses only. Well spouses were less satisfied with the couples' relationship than were ill spouses. Overall most of the couples in this study were coping well with the ill spouse's MS. Despite any disruption of their sexual relationship most of the couples who participated in this study viewed other stressors, such as difficulties with children, as being more influential than MS in their relationships. Differences in communication and sexual interactions between couples with a high level of conflict and those with a low level of conflict did emerge. These differences and how clinicians can treat couples who are coping with a chronic disease like MS are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to identify the family literacy practices of low socioeconomic, LEP, Hispanic families, with parents who had low levels of parental education and whose children were successful in math and reading. An ethnographic approach was employed by the researcher to gather, collect and analyze the data. The researcher interviewed and observed the home environment of 10 Hispanic families with deficit factors whose children were successful students in math and reading. Additional interviews of 5 experienced Bilingual Certified Language Acquisition Development [BCLAD] teachers were conducted. A discussion of the results reviewed findings of interest from the study. These findings were as follows: (a) families implemented a variety of purposeful and effective strategies within the context of their home environment to support and develop their children's Spanish and English literacy, as well as their own; (b) families and school shared common expectations and values in regards to academic achievement; (c) families aspired to a better life; and (d) the effectiveness of the school in providing resources to meet the needs of children and parents contributed to the families' efforts to support and develop literacy. The relationship between the findings of the study and prior research have also been included in the discussion section. This study provided school administrators with recommendations to assist families with deficit factors in their efforts to foster their children's success in math and reading. Suggestions for additional research were also offered.

For many mothers and fathers, parenting books are the conduit to information on child development from to the scholarly and scientific communities. This study examined popular American parenting books from 1983–1998 to determine the types of fatherhood role expectations and perceptions regarding fathers that are being communicated to expectant and new parents. A telephone interview process was used to obtain a non-biased sample of the most popular parenting books in the nation. Three bookstores, hospitals, obstetric offices, and pediatric offices from each of 11 regions of the United States were selected for a total of 132 interviews which resulted in a 190 book nominations. The What to Expect series of books, written by Eisenberg, Murkoff, & Hathaway, received the most nominations. There were 40 votes for What to Expect When You're Expecting , 39 for What to Expect the First Year and 20 nominations for What to Expect the Toddler Years . The American Academy of Pediatrics book, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child received 15. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care received ten votes and Burton Schmitt's Your Child's Health was nominated nine times. Ten others books received two or more nominations and were included in the sample. Results showed that fathers were noticeably absent from the pages of the parenting manuals. On average, the books devoted approximately 3.5% of the text and 7.5% of the illustrations to father-related issues. For this naturalistic study, grounded theory was used to examine the illustrations and text pertaining to fathers. The salient themes from the text indicate that parenting manual authors seem to marginalize the father's importance in the family: (a) Fathers play a subordinate role in parenting; (b) Fathers' family role family is unclear and confusing; (c) Fathers' involvement in the family is portrayed as increasing while simultaneously not increasing; (d) Fathers depicted as family providers whose family involvement is voluntary; and, (e) Fathers portrayed as inadequate, jealous, reluctant, and rejected. This investigation concluded that the parenting book illustrations were largely positive, in contrast to the more negative portrayal of fathers in the text.