Well-being of parents of young children with asthma.

The relationships of family demands, caregiving demands, sense of coherence (SOC), and family hardiness (FH) with parents' well-being was evaluated in 76 families (75 mothers and 62 fathers) of young children (infant to 6 years) with asthma. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin, M., & McCubbin, 1993, 1996) was the conceptual framework for the study. The major hypothesis was that SOC and FH, separately and in combination, moderate both family system and caregiving demands on general well-being. With hierarchical regression analysis, SOC and FH explained 56% of the variance in mothers' well-being; family demands, SOC, and FH explained 67% of the variance in fathers' well-being. No moderating relationships were found for SOC or FH. Resiliency factors (SOC and FH) and family demands had direct relationships to the well-being of parents of young children with asthma.

Contextualizing family risk factors for alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

OBJECTIVE: Studies of alcohol and the family should represent the full range of family types in the U.S. population. Developments from studies of family systems in other research contexts may be usefully applied to the alcohol field. METHOD: This commentary highlights important methodological and conceptual issues relevant for the design and conduct of family research. RESULTS: Data indicate major changes in the composition of the American family over the past quarter century. Some recent conceptual developments in the field of family research are relevant for studies of alcohol and the family and for intervention development. CONCLUSION: Family-based alcohol research should acknowledge and address the heterogeneity that exists among modern American families. Studies of family risk and resiliency should distinguish between threats to the family's ability to function as a whole, and threats to the well-being of individual members. Additional research is needed on the role of race and ethnicity in family processes.

Appraisal and caregiving burden in family members caring for patients receiving chemotherapy.

The purposes of this exploratory study of 49 family caregivers of patients receiving chemotherapy were to describe the time and difficulty associated with caregiving tasks, examine caregivers' appraisals of their situations, and to explore what variables are predictive of caregiver mood. Measures used in this study included the Caregiving Burden Scale, Appraisal of Caregiving Scale, Family Hardiness Index, and an abbreviated form of the Profile of Mood States. Multiple regression was used to examine predictive relationships. The 25 women and 24 men reported spending the most time giving emotional support and assisting with household tasks, errands, and transportation. Giving emotional support was the most time-consuming and difficult task; therefore, it received the highest burden score. Burden was predicted by level of patient dependency. Caregiving burden, family hardiness, and caregiver health predicted 50% of the variance in negative appraisal of caregiving. Negative appraisal and age of the caregiver explained 49% of the variance in mood disturbance. Findings suggest that caregivers' appraisals of their situations may mediate the effects of illness and contextual factors on caregiver outcomes and that family hardiness is an important caregiver resource.

Self-care burden, stress appraisal, and mood among persons receiving radiotherapy.

This study was undertaken to describe the self-care burden (SCB) of persons receiving radiation as outpatients, to identify factors contributing to SCB, and to test a model of the effects of SCB, symptom distress, and appraisal of illness on mood. The subjects were 72 adults with cancer who had been in treatment an average of 4 weeks. Fatigue was reported to be the most distressing symptom. Among health deviation self-care tasks, coming for treatment was the most demanding, and self-treatment, such as administering medications, was the most difficult. Universal self-care activities most disrupted by treatment were social and recreational activities. Path analysis revealed that dependency was the primary predictor of health deviation SCB, while symptom distress was the best predictor of universal SCB. Universal SCB and family hardiness were the best predictors of appraisal scores. Symptom distress and somatic mood were highly correlated, suggesting collinearity between these factors. Four variables--appraisal, symptom distress, family hardiness, and health deviation SCB--explained 55% of the variance in affective mood scores. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Family stress and family strengths: a comparison of single- and two-parent families with handicapped children.

Using the Typology Model of Adjustment and Adaptation, a family stress model, the differences in family stressors, resources, family types, parental coping patterns, and child health indices were examined in 27 single-parent families and 27 two-parent families who had a child with cerebral palsy. The two groups of families were matched on the severity of the child's handicap and the age and gender of the parent. There was no significant difference between the two groups of families on the accumulation of stressors and demands, resource strains, family types, family cohesion, family resources of esteem/communication, mastery/health, extended family social support, and the child health indices of overall physical health status and health improvement. Single-parent families were significantly lower on financial well-being and the mother's coping related to maintaining family integration, cooperation, and optimism about the situation. Single-parent families also were higher on family adaptability than two-parent families, reflecting an ability to be more flexible in family rules, power structure, and role relationships.