What do foster parents think of the natural parents? A comparative study.

By means of standardized case vignettes and rating scales, this study compared attitudes of short-term foster parents, professional social workers and parents in the general population respectively towards birth parents of abused children received into foster care. Significant differences arose between the foster parents and comparison groups on dimensions about issues relating to the desirability of foster care, restrictions on contact with birth parents and conditions under which the abused child might return to its family. Wide variation occurred both between individual foster parents and also in the degree of correspondence of views between the foster parents and each of the comparison groups on individual dimensions. Such an anomalous position, if unacknowledged, might affect outcomes of individual foster placements and hold implications for the recruitment, training and support of foster parents.

Psychosocial and background factors in emotional abuse of children.

Seven parents legally established as emotionally abusing their children were compared with a closely matched control group of seven 'problem' parents in a day nursery. The experimental group parents showed significantly more psychosocial and background factors associated with undifferentiated abuse or physical abuse and neglect; specifically, these factors included poor coping skills, difficulty in building relationships, and poor child management techniques. In addition, the emotionally abusing parents reported a significantly higher incidence of behavioural deviancy in their children than the control caregivers. Perceived stress and lack of support also appeared critical in differentiating the two groups. The results suggest that a background of emotional abuse or deprivation may predispose an adult to have inadequate or absent coping strategies to handle difficult child behaviour, resulting in a negative parent-child interaction and failure to make use of outside support.

Toddler's diarrhoea: individual variation with environmental change.

Growing evidence suggests that environmental influences are relevant to the aetiology, maintenance and treatment of the common complaint of toddler's diarrhoea. Two presented cases demonstrate systematic fluctuations in frequency of diarrhoea by individual subjects, concurrent with changes of environment.

Clinicians' assessment of stress occurring with toddler's diarrhoea.

From biographical and behavioural data, four clinicians independently rated the degree of stress as either due to general environmental influences or induced by family relationships likely to act upon two groups of children--one with toddler's diarrhoea and a matched control group with other physical disorders. Each clinician rated the experimental group significantly higher on both scales of stress than the control group; inter-rater correlation was positive and significant. The results suggest that environmental stress influences are associated with the aetiology and maintenance of toddler's diarrhoea, and imply that modification of such stress is relevant to treatment of the condition.

Alleviation of toddler's diarrhoea by environmental management.

Twenty-nine children, consecutively referred to paediatricians following prolonged histories of toddler's diarrhoea and diverse behaviour difficulties, were offered treatment that comprised counselling of parental anxiety towards alleviation of environmental stress and training and support for parents in consistent and effective management of child behaviour. Twenty-one subjects (72%) completed treatment, 20 of whom reached criterion cure of diarrhoea in a mean of 2.19 months; the remaining child also showed marked decreased frequency of diarrhoea. Maternal ratings of children's behaviour before and after treatment indicated significant improvement; observations by clinicians of child behaviour and parent/child interaction concurred. Improvement in both diarrhoea and behaviour was maintained upon reassessment after a further 6 months. This effective treatment method, combined with conclusions from previous investigations suggest a 'psychosomatic' model for the aetiology of toddler's diarrhoea whereby complex environmental influences on the child are mediated through physical processes.

Environmental stress factors associated with toddler's diarrhoea.

Seventeen children with toddler's diarrhoea showed significantly higher incidence of environmental and biographical indicators of personal or familial stress than a matched group with other physical disorders. An association is suggested between environmental influences and the aetiology and maintenance of toddler's diarrhoea.