Relationship Violence and Psychological Distress Among Low-income Urban Women

In this paper, we examined the association between relationship violence and psychological distress among low-income urban women. Extending prior research, we considered the effects of relationship violence within the context of other chronic stressors that are common in the lives of these women. Using data from the Welfare, Children, and Families project (1999), a probability sample of 2,402 low-income women with children living in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, we predicted psychological distress with multiple measures of relationship violence, a wide range of sociodemographic variables, and several chronic stressors. Our results show that relationship violence is associated with higher levels of economic hardship, neighborhood disorder, and household disrepair. We also find that relationship violence is associated with higher levels of psychological distress, net of these other chronic stressors. Finally, we observe that the effects of relationship violence do not vary according to the chronic stressors under study. Because the adverse effects of relationship violence are similar for women despite other adverse circumstances, interventions and treatment efforts focused exclusively on relationship violence may make a unique contribution to the psychological well-being of low-income urban women. Hill and Mossakowski are with the Department of Sociology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, USA; Angel is with the Department of Sociology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.     

The therapeutic power of play: examining the play of young children with leukaemia

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic function of play has been investigated in relation to recognized stressors such as hospitalization, illness and medical treatments for ill children. While medical treatments in the past 30 years have improved survival rates, children's psychological experiences and quality of life during and after their illness have received limited attention. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the therapeutic effects of play on 3- to 5-year-old children with leukaemia compared with a control group of healthy children. METHOD: The participants with leukaemia (n = 11) were from the external oncology clinic of an urban children's hospital; control children (n = 11) attended a day care centre. Measures included children's experience of stress, social and cognitive play behaviours, and daily mood. RESULTS: A series of manova revealed that the children with leukaemia, compared with the control children, engaged in (a) significantly fewer total play behaviours, and in particular less (b) parallel, (c) group and (d) dramatic play. Pearson correlations revealed significant relationships between reports of 'being happy' and play only for children with leukaemia. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed a pattern of repetitive play activities week after week for children with leukaemia, but not controls. DISCUSSION: Findings are discussed in light of the theoretical and practical implications for children undergoing treatment for leukaemia.     

Trajectories of Stress among Parents of Children with Disabilities: A Dyadic Analysis

Parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) face greater caregiving demands than other parents, which may lead to heightened levels of stress. Characteristics of the child with DD as well as family resources may explain the extensive variability observed in parental adjustment. This study examined trajectories of parenting stress among 108 mother–father dyads parenting a child with DD, from early childhood (age 3) through adolescence (age 15). Using multilevel dyadic analyses, stress was found to increase from early to middle childhood then subsequently decrease through adolescence. Child‐related stressors (behavior problems, adaptive behavior) and family resources (social support, positive family climate) in early childhood predicted initial levels and change in stress. Mother–father differences and recommendations for intervention are discussed.     

Supporting pupils in mainstream school with an illness or disability: young people''s views

To date, little research has focused directly on health-related support in school for children with a chronic illness or physical disability, yet these children are known to be at increased risk for psychosocial and academic problems. In addition, few studies have sought the views of pupils directly: those which have report a wide range of problems with school life. The increasing numbers of children surviving and managing their health conditions, together with UK policy for inclusive education, means that a growing proportion of pupils in mainstream schools require understanding of their special health needs and may need service support from education and health professionals. This paper presents findings from semistructured interviews with 33 mainstream secondary school pupils with a variety of illnesses and disabilities on the impact of their health condition on school life. Results show that young people valued school and were actively managing the effects of their condition, but needed support from others. Informal support was most frequently cited, including parents--particularly mothers--teachers and close friends. The main difficulties were implications of school absence, exclusion from school life, teachers' reactions to the illness or disability, and peer relationships. The discussion focuses on ways in which health professionals can play a part in supporting pupils both directly and indirectly, through helping others in school understand the condition and its impact on school life.     

Prenatal maternal stress and early caregiving experiences: implications for childhood asthma risk

There is still much debate as to the pathways through which some children develop asthma and others do not. One possible mechanism outlined here concerns the way in which stress may influence the neuroendocrine system and thence the immune system. Supporting evidence from animal experiments suggests that maternal prenatal stress may be of importance, resulting in programming of the infant's HPA axis. In addition, social stressors during the early part of a child's life may also affect the HPA axis and thence dysregulation of immune system functioning with implications for the development of asthma.     

Physical comorbidity and medical care use in children with emotional problems.

As family disruption, violence, and the decline of community become more common, an ever-growing number of children are exposed to psychological and social stressors that can lead to serious emotional problems. For many children emotional problems can interfere with normal psychological and social development and can have serious long-term effects. In this study data from a large national survey are used to examine patterns of emotional and physical comorbidity and the uses of general medical and mental health services by children ages 4 to 11. Results indicate that emotional problems are common among children with physical illnesses and that emotional problems increase general medical care use. Emotional problems are clearly exacerbated by factors associated with poverty. The data also show that a larger proportion of children in single-parent than in two-parent families experience emotional problems and use mental health services. We discuss the implications of these findings for general pediatric practice.     

医院临时调配药物的使用现状及合法性分析

儿童缺乏合适的治疗药物是国内外长期存在的问题,当疾病治疗所需而市场上没有合适的药物可供儿童使用时,往往需要选择市售供成人使用的药物.由于特殊的生理和心理特点,这些药物必须通过个体化的临时调配才能供儿童使用.临时调配药物在儿童疾病治疗过程中发挥着重要的作用,同时在操作和使用过程中也存在着不少问题,包括药物的稳定性、剂量准确性、潜在的用药风险,以及调配和使用的合法性问题.如何确保临时调配药物安全、合理、规范的使用,需要药学工作者、专业协会及药品监管部门共同的努力.     

Epidemiological approaches to measure childhood stress

The prevalence of childhood stress has repeatedly been shown to be high, with 'parental separation' and 'being bullied at school' as the most frequently reported stressors in the child's everyday life. This is quite alarming as children are most vulnerable to the adverse psychological and physiological health consequences of chronic stress exposure. Despite growing research interest in this field over the last years, literature falls short in providing an overview of methods to adequately assess stress in elementary school children (6-12 years old). This review describes questionnaires and interviews, as well as laboratory measurements of cortisol in biological samples (serum, urine, saliva and hair) as stress assessment methods in children, with the emphasis on epidemiological research settings. Major characteristics, strengths and limitations of these methods are established, examples of child-specific stressor questionnaires and interviews are provided and specific recommendations with respect to epidemiological research are formulated. In addition, hair cortisol as a potential biomarker for chronic stress (in children) is discussed more thoroughly. This review is meant to serve as a preliminary guide for health researchers new to this research area by reflecting on theoretical and methodological aspects in childhood stress assessment.     

Perceived occupational stress,affective, and physical well-being among telecommunication employees in Greece

The present study examined four potential roles of work-related negative affectivity on the associations between self-reported occupational stress and physical well-being among telecommunication employees in Greece. Participants (764, predominantly male) completed a battery of self-report measures on perceived occupational stress, negative affectivity, and illness symptoms. In line with previous research, negative affectivity exerted a nuisance effect, by inflating the association between reported stressors and illness symptoms, and significantly predicted illness symptoms, over and above the effects of stressors. In addition, negative affectivity influenced reported illness symptom indirectly, through the effects of stressors, and moderated the relationship between interpersonal conflict at work and illness symptoms. The findings suggest that negative affectivity can largely explain and influence in different ways the associations between self-reported stress and physical strain. It is recommended that future studies of occupational stress should control for the effects of negative affectivity, and that health professionals should be cautious of its effects when interpreting relationships between self-reported occupational stress and physical well-being.     

Chile: Perspectives in School Health

The leading health problems of children and adolescents in Chile is reviewed. The Chilean educational system and how the system addresses its principal health problems are described. A school health program is described as well as other educational programs designed and developed by nongovernmental institutions which have a smaller coverage. Current research studies regarding growth and development, child morbidity, nutritional level, and mental health studies are reviewed. In addition, principal challenges that include developing more efficient ways of referring children, enriching the curriculum and teacher training, assigning school hours for health teachers, and enlarging coverage of the health care evaluation programs are outlined. Of special importance is developing prevention programs for parents and children using school and community leaders to prevent health problems in areas such as human sexuality education, decision-making, social abilities, and alcohol and drug abuse. Main efforts should be directed toward low-income families and children to improve life conditions.     

The Nursing Role in the Special Olympic Program

Special Olympics is an international program of physical fitness, recreation and sports for the handicapped of all ages and provides competition at all ability levels by grouping participants into divisions according to age, sex and performance ability. Special Olympics, a year-round program of physical training for mentally handicapped children and adults, contributes positively to the physical, social and psychological development of these individuals. Special Olympic participants must have a physical examination prior to the training activities or athletic competition to determine limitations and to prescribe special precautions to follow while participating. School nurse practitioners play an important role in seeing that physical examinations are completed prior to scheduled events in addition to identifying immediate health needs, counseling students, teachers and parents about specific problems, updating medical information and seeking appropriate referrals for the participants. School nurse practitioners' attendance at Special Olympics competition is vital to the success of the program.     

Impact of Stressors on Front-Line Child Welfare Supervisors

Abstract

The death of children, intense media scrutiny, and million dollar lawsuits are all potential stressors faced by child welfare professionals. Despite this, very little research or literature has explored the specific realities of stressors for the individual front-line child welfare supervisor. Therefore, as a contribution to the field of child welfare practice, this paper expands our understanding of this unique supervisory population through a detailed examination of the literature. This review links theory to practice through a series of case examples involving situations of child welfare supervisors who have been affected by workplace stressors. The paper provides both individual and organizational solutions to either prevent or intervene in situations involving child welfare supervisors who may be at risk of burnout and/or compassion fatigue.     

Curriculum Integration in Nutrition and Mathematics

ABSTRACT: Today's school-aged children face a multitude of health issues that affect their well-being and academic performance. Partnerships have developed between health and education agencies to help American children succeed at math and science and to prepare them to make healthful, lifelong decisions. Curriculum integration provides a framework for children to apply knowledge from several disciplines and to use this knowledge to solve real-life problems at work and at play. Goals for instruction focus on the needs not only of the individual but also of society. Nutrition science and mathematics form a natural partnership. Nutrition science incorporates numerous mathematical concepts and procedures such as sorting, classifying, statistics, probability, estimation, and rates and proportion. In preparation for participation in a global and technological society that will require citizens to be quantitative thinkers, educators must endeavor to assist all children in becoming healthy adults who are mathematically literate and competent.     

Supporting gifted students' acquisition of relevant knowledge for solving math problems

Studies conducted in cognitive laboratories as well as in other settings suggest ways to facilitate people's abilities to use relevant knowledge in problem-solving and decision making. Such activities help students understand the nature of the problems that various concepts and procedures were designed to solve, and hence enable them to understand the functional significance of new information. This study presented gifted 4th grade students with “real life” problem-solving content, via videodisc technology, and then asked them to make valid suggestions about how to solve problems posed. Results illustrated that when children are instructed in problem-solving strategies and then presented story information, they are more successful in solving posed problems than children who did not receive training.     

The specificity of disrupted processes in families of adult children of alcoholics

Children of alcoholics (COAs) have been characterized as an at-risk population in part, because of the dysfunctional family environments that disrupt psychosocial development among offspring exposed to parental alcoholism. This study examined the specificity of problematic family environments to children of alcoholics vs children exposed to other significant family stressors that included parental death, unemployment, separation, divorce, or major illness. University students completed self-report measures of family stressors, family relationship problems, family communication quality, family conflict, and relationship with parents. Based on a family stressor checklist, 20 students exposed only to parental alcoholism and no other family stressors were compared to several other groups exposed to specific family stressors, and to 50 control subjects who had reported no family stressors. Results showed that students from families where a parent is or was an alcoholic, and where there were no other family stressors, recall disturbed family relations no more commonly than students specifically exposed to other family stressors such as parental divorce, death, or major illness, and no more commonly than those who reported no family stressors. Further analyses suggest that the disruption of COAs' family environments may be explained by their increased likelihood of experiencing additional family stressors that can have a disruptive effect, such as parental separation, divorce and unemployment.     

Writing with a computer: An invitation to play

Although language play has generally been viewed as speech play, children also enjoy playing with language in written form. The computer offers children an opportunity to actively experiment with print in novel ways. During computer play, children's oral and written language provides insights into cognitive development and language learning. At the Developmental Research School at Florida State University, kindergarten children have been observed producing written language forms using a word processing program which allows them to electronically create and explore text. Researchers there have noted varying developmental stages in children as they spontaneously and playful interact with the computer to produce words and stories that approximate traditional language conventions. Additionally, they have noted that word processing and keyboard functions have prompted children to explore language in computer-specific ways. This language play facilitates children's systematic organization of print, their formulating and testing of language hypotheses, and the stimulation and development of symbolic thought.     

Golden holocaust: Origins of the cigarette catastrophe and the case for abolition

Refugee camps are replete with risk factors for mental health problems among children, including poverty, disruption of family structure, family violence and food insecurity. This study, focused on refugee children from Burma, in Ban Mai Nai Soi camp in Thailand, sought to identify the particular risks children are exposed to in this context, and the impacts on their mental health and psychosocial well-being. This study employed two qualitative methods – free list interviews and key informant interviews – to identify the main problems impacting children in Ban Mai Nai Soi camp and to explore the causes of these problems and their impact on children's well-being. Respondents in free list interviews identified a number of problems that impact children in this context, including fighting between adults, alcohol use by adults and children, and child abuse and neglect. Across the issues, the causes included economic and social conditions associated with living in the camp and changes in family structures. Children are chronically exposed to stressors during their growth and development in the camp environment. Policies and interventions in areas of protracted displacement in camp-based settings should work to address these stressors and their impacts at community, household and individual levels.     

Young children's literacy‐related play

Studies indicate that young children’s literacy learning can be promoted in a play setting. Literacy interactions, strategies, and activities in the children’s play environment can facilitate their acquisition of literacy. In literacy‐related play experiences, children select and utilize their abilities that are essential for literacy learning in a social context. Social contexts become pressing venues for introducing children to literacy knowledge and practices, where children develop their language and literacy through their everyday social activities. Children use play as an important resource to explore their developing conceptions of the purposes and characteristics of print in the preschool years. During play young children use language in literate ways, while they use literacy as they see it practiced. A play and literacy relationship emerges when play assists young children to explore and comprehend the interactions between these two realms. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze current studies that examine the interaction between play and literacy.     

Behavioural profile and maternal stress in Greek young children with Williams syndrome

Background Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder causing intellectual disability. Children with WS often exhibit various kinds of maladaptive behaviours that affect their social functioning. In order to determine whether these behaviours are syndrome-specific, it would be necessary to compare children with WS with children with other syndromes as well as to provide data on the socio-emotional profile in WS from a variety of cultures. The present study investigated the behavioural profile and its relation to maternal stress in Greek young children with WS in comparison with young children with Down syndrome and typically developing (TD) children. Methods Participants were 60 mothers, 20 in each syndrome group and 20 in the control group. The three groups were matched for mental age. The behavioural profile of the participants was investigated through the Child Behaviour Checklist (1.5-5 years) and maternal stress through the Parental Stress Index. Results In accordance with studies in other cultures, it was found that young children with WS received significantly higher rates in emotional problems and anxiety/depression, compared with both children with Down syndrome and TD children. Moreover, mothers of children with WS reported significantly higher scores in the Total Stress index compared with mothers of TD children. However, in contrast with previous studies, only 25% of children with WS fell into the clinical range in the total Child Behavior Checklist score. Conclusion The consistency of the socio-emotional characteristics of children with WS across cultures and developmental stages implies a strong influence of the genetic phenotype. However, Greek mothers avoided to characterize these behaviours as pathological. Implications of these findings for clinical practice are also discussed.