Health-related quality of life of children and their parents 6 months after children’s critical illness

Quality of Life Research - This study aimed to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children and their parents, 6 months after the child’s admission to the Pediatric...     

The association between adaptive functioning and parents’ attributions for children’s emotions

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that adaptive functioning influences parents’ attributions for children’s social behaviours. However, the influence of adaptive functioning on parents’ attributions for children’s emotional expressions is yet to be examined. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between adaptive functioning of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents’ attributions for children’s negative emotional expressions. Participants included 68 parents of children with ASD ages 3–11 (Mage = 7.2; SD = 6.82). Parents completed two questionnaires: one measuring adaptive functioning and one measuring parents’ attributions for their children’s emotional expressions. Positive associations were found between: (1) parents’ internal modifiable attributions for overall negative emotions (i.e. fear, anger, sadness aggregate), fear, and anger; (2) parents’ external modifiable attributions for overall negative emotion, fear, and sadness; and (3) parents’ disability-based attributions and fear. Tentatively, these results indicate that attribution retraining may be an important focus for interventions with parents of children with ASD.     

Putting knowledge to trial: ‘ADHD parents’ and the evaluation of alternative therapeutic regimes

The role of patients' organisations in shaping (medical) knowledge about particular health conditions and illnesses sheds light on notions of informed patienthood and the dynamics of lay-expert knowledge in the context of medicalisation. This paper considers dynamics of knowledge production in relation to a specific condition area, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), by investigating how parents of children with ADHD are intervening in knowledge creation about the effectiveness of different treatments for the disorder. It draws on qualitative research carried out between 2009 and 2011 with organisations representing parents of children with ADHD in Ireland, to explore how parents have commissioned evaluations of alternative interventions to medication. Drawing on analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with both parents and professionals active in the arena of ADHD, documentary evidence, and observation at parent organisations' events, the study demonstrates how parents' interventions have sought to expand the therapeutic domain of ADHD beyond the exclusive realm of biopsychiatry, and the dilemmas they face in making their experiences count in a context where the need for evidence has become paramount in the governance of health.     

The Training and Support Programme for parents of children with ataxia: parents’ perspectives

The aim of the study was to assess the Training and Support Programme (TSP) among parents of children with ataxia. Twenty‐seven parents and their children completed the TSP. Data were collected by home record sheets and observation sheets completed by parents and therapists, respectively, and telephone interviews with 10 parents. Benefits reported included improvements in children’s stiffness, ‘jumping legs’, agitation, energy and activity levels, circulation, balance, eating, non‐verbal communication, relaxation and happiness. One parent had become ‘more accepting’ of their child’s ataxia. Several families attended the TSP in one location. This facilitated the development of a ‘social network’ of similar families caring for children with ataxia. A randomised controlled trial would be necessary to determine whether the changes reported here are in fact due to attending the TSP. Such a study would benefit from the inclusion of children as active participants in the research process.     

Preschool children’s knowledge about the environmental impact of various modes of transport

This study explored Swedish preschool children’s knowledge about the environmental impact of various transport modes, and investigated whether or not eco-certification has any role to play in relation to this knowledge. Additionally, this study examined children’s perceived sources of knowledge. Using illustrations and semi-structured questions, 53 children, aged five to six years, from six eco-certified and six non-eco-certified preschools were interviewed. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using content analysis and Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA), respectively. Findings revealed that most of the children had acquired some knowledge about the environmental impact of various transport modes, although some children were not familiar with the word ‘environment’. Although the complexity of children’s justifications for the environmental impact of different modes of transport tended to be higher at eco-certified preschools compared to non-eco-certified preschools, no statistically significant differences were found. Parents were reported to be a major source of knowledge.     

The role of parents’ distancing strategies in the development of five-year-old children’s Theory of Mind

The aim of this study was to analyse the relation between parents’ distancing strategies and the performance of five-year-old children (N = 70) in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. The children’s performances were assessed during individual sessions held at school. The distancing strategies practiced by the parents (cognitive and linguistic scaffolding, contingency rule and decontextualisation strategies, among others) were assessed through systematic observation carried out in the family home. The results support the relationship between some of these variables (linguistic scaffolding, decontextualisation and contingency rule) and ToM development. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the need of educational and family intervention programmes which enhance the development of this ability.     

Finnish children’s questions while watching television with parents

This article explores parent–child interaction in television viewing situations. The focus of the analysis is on children’s questions regarding the on-going program and parents’ responses to children’s questions. The data consist of 122 questions in 28 television-viewing episodes in 16 Finnish families. Through questions, children treat parents as more knowledgeable regarding media portrayals but asking questions also gives children interactional power to steer the conversation and assess the information their parents provide. In their responses, the parents take the knowing position and explain media content and its relation to the real world. In the process, norms and values are mediated. We distinguish three orientations in parents’ responses: mediating television content, selecting the focus of response and attending to emotional cues. The paper will discuss the relationship of these activities to a larger social psychological phenomenon of parental mediation.     

Maternal emotion framing and children’s social behavior: the role of children’s feelings and beliefs about peers

Children’s feelings and beliefs about peer relationships were examined as a possible mediator between mothers’ positive and negative emotional framing and children’s (n = 46) behavior with peers. Mothers’ emotion framing was assessed as they and their young children read a picture book depicting emotionally‐laden content, but no printed text. Feelings and beliefs about self and peers were assessed during a puppet interview focusing on beliefs about self and peers. Teachers rated children’s aggressive, competent and withdrawn behavior. Mothers’ emotion framing was significantly associated with children’s cognitive representations of self and peers (r = 0.35 and ?0.44, both p < 0.01, for positive and negative emotional framing, respectively) and with withdrawn social behavior (r = ?0.39 and 0.41, p < 0.01 for positive and negative framing, respectively). Findings suggest that children’s beliefs about self and peers may mediate the association between mothers’ emotion framing and children’s withdrawn behavior.     

Evaluating the Serbian version of the KIDSCREEN quality-of-life questionnaires: reliability, validity, and agreement between children’s and parents’ ratings

Purpose

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Serbian set of the KIDSCREEN questionnaires: KIDSCREEN-52, KIDSCREEN-27, and KIDSCREEN-10 index.

Methods

The study included 330 children (8–18 years) and 314 parents. All completed the KIDSCREEN and KINDL questionnaires. Psychometric analyses included internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s coefficient), criterion, convergent and discriminant validity, and agreement between children and parents (the intraclass correlation coefficient—ICC).

Results

Cronbach’s α of 0.7 and above was found for all except for the self-perception scale of the KIDSCREEN-52, being 0.58 for the child and 0.63 for the parent version. Correlations between similar scales in the KIDSCREEN and KINDL were substantial (ranging 0.45–65) and higher than correlations between theoretically different scales. Moderate to excellent agreement existed between children’s and parents’ ratings in all KIDSCREEN scales (ICC ranged 0.44–0.63), except for the moods and emotions from the longer (ICC = 0.34) and the social support and peers from the shorter version (ICC = 0.38).

Conclusions

Levels of internal consistency reliability and validity of all KIDSCREEN questionnaires in Serbian are appropriate, as well as agreement between children’s and parents’ ratings.     

Arab American parents’ perceptions of their children’s experience in the USA: a qualitative study

The purpose of this study was to examine Arab American parents’ perceptions of difficulties their children experience in the USA. Both Arab American children born outside the USA who later moved to the country and children born in the USA to Arab parents were examined. Fifty Arab American families were interviewed in two areas in the State of Michigan. Data were translated from Arabic to English, and then analysed according to specific themes. Results revealed that the most common difficulties are language acquisition and emotional and social adjustments. The least frequent problem is using technology. Additionally, results showed that children who live in concentrated populations of Arab immigrants have fewer problems than those who live in less concentrated areas. The implications of results for educators, school psychologists and new Arab immigrants are presented.     

Preschool children’s representation and understanding of written number symbols

Two samples of preschool children’s representation and understanding of written number symbols was examined in two time points in one academic year. About 40% of Chinese four year olds (mean=4:7) were able to use conventional number symbols to represent the quantity of ten, on average. The majority of these children (85%) could represent written number symbols at the age of five (mean= 5:4). The characteristic of Chinese children’s representation of written numerals was similar to that of British children. However, Chinese four year olds’ ability to represent written number symbols seemed better than that of the British group of five year olds; and the performance of Chinese five year olds was more advanced than that of British six and seven year olds. Children’s ability to represent written number symbols closely relates to their cardinal concept. The performance of children in a university‐affiliated childcare center was better than that of the center serving working‐class families.     

Children′s physical activity and screen time: qualitative comparison of views of parents of infants and preschool children

A growing number of studies have pulled from Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory to design interventions targeting health behavior change. More recently, researchers have begun using SDT to promote the adoption and maintenance of an active lifestyle. In this review, we aim to highlight how researchers and practitioners can draw from the SDT framework to develop, implement, and evaluate intervention efforts centered on increasing physical activity levels in different contexts and different populations. In the present paper, the rationale for using SDT to foster physical activity engagement is briefly reviewed before particular attention is given to three recent randomized controlled trials, the Canadian Physical Activity Counseling (PAC) Trial, the Empower trial from the UK, and the Portuguese PESO (Promotion of Health and Exercise in Obesity) trial, each of which focused on promoting physical activity behavior. The SDT-based intervention components, procedures, and participants are highlighted, and the key findings that have emanated from these three trials are presented. Lastly, we outline some of the limitations of the work conducted to date in this area and we acknowledge the challenges that arise when attempting to design, deliver, and test SDT-grounded interventions in the context of physical activity promotion.     

The internet and children’s psychological wellbeing

Late childhood and adolescence is a critical time for social and emotional development. Over the past two decades, this life stage has been hugely affected by the almost universal adoption of the internet as a source of information, communication, and entertainment. We use a large representative sample of over 6300 children in England over the period 2012–2017, to estimate the effect of neighbourhood broadband speed, as a proxy for internet use, on a number of wellbeing outcomes, which reflect how these children feel about different aspects of their life. We find that internet use is negatively associated with wellbeing across a number of domains. The strongest effect is for how children feel about their appearance, and the effects are worse for girls than boys. We test a number of potential causal mechanisms, and find support both for the ‘crowding out’ hypothesis, whereby internet use reduces the time spent on other beneficial activities, and for the adverse effect of social media use. Our evidence adds weight to the already strident calls for interventions that can reduce the adverse effects of internet use on children’s emotional health.     

Road traffic noise and children’s inattention

Background

An increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and children may therefore be especially vulnerable to road traffic noise. The objective of the present study was to examine whether road traffic noise was associated with reported inattention symptoms in children, and whether this association was mediated by sleep duration.

Methods

This study was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Parental reports of children’s inattention at age 8 were linked to modelled levels of residential road traffic noise. We investigated the association between inattention and noise exposure during pregnancy (n?=?1934), noise exposure averaged over 5 years (age 3 to 8 years; n?=?1384) and noise exposure at age 8 years (n?=?1384), using fractional logit response models. The participants were children from Oslo, Norway.

Results

An association with inattention at age 8 years was found for road traffic noise exposure at age 8 years (coef?=?.0083, CI?=?[.0012, .0154]; 1.2% point increase in inattention score per 10 dB increase in noise level), road traffic noise exposure average for the last 5 years (coef?=?.0090, CI?=?[.0016, .0164]; 1.3% point increase/10 dB), and for pregnancy road traffic noise exposure for boys (coef?=?.0091, CI?=?[.0010, .0171]), but not girls (coef?=??.0021, CI?=?[?.0094, .0053]). Criteria for doing mediation analyses were not fulfilled.

Conclusion

Results indicate that road traffic noise has a negative impact on children’s inattention. We found no mediation by sleep duration.

     

The influence of children’s diet on their cognition and behavior

The rapid growth of the brain and its high metabolic rate suggests that it is reasonable to consider whether their diet may influence the cognitive development of children. To date although there are few nutritional recommendations that can be made with confidence, there is a growing body of evidence that diet can influence the development and functioning of the brain. Several lines of evidence support the view that the diet of the mother during pregnancy, and the diet of the infant in the perinatal period, have long-term consequences. The provision of fatty acids has been the most studied aspect of nutrition, although the evidence is lacking that supplementation has long-term benefits. There is increasing evidence that the missing of breakfast has negative consequences late in the morning and a working hypothesis is that meals of a low rather than high glycemic load are beneficial. The aim is to introduce a range of topics to those for whom this area is of potential interest. Where appropriate the main themes and conclusions are summarized and attention is drawn to review articles that allow those interested to go further.