Efficacy of psychosocial group intervention for children with chronic illness and their parents.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral group intervention for children with chronic illnesses and to test the effect of an added parent component. METHODS: Children (n = 194) and their parents participated in a multicenter randomized clinical trial comparing a child-only intervention and a parent-child intervention to a wait-list control group. Primary outcomes were parent- and self-reported internalizing and externalizing problems; secondary outcomes were child disease-related coping skills (information seeking, relaxation, social competence, medical compliance, and positive thinking). Assessments took place at baseline and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Intention-to-treat mixed-model analyses were performed to test the difference in change in outcomes. RESULTS: The intervention had a positive effect on changes in parent-reported internalizing problems, child-reported externalizing problems, information seeking, social competence, and positive thinking. The additional effect of parental involvement was observed on parent-reported internalizing problems, child-reported externalizing problems, information seeking, and social competence. Illness severity and illness type did not moderate the effects. There were no intervention effects on child-reported internalizing problems, parent-reported externalizing problems, relaxation, or medical compliance. Of the families in the wait-list control group, 74% sought alternative psychological support during the intervention period. CONCLUSIONS: This RCT supports the efficacy of a protocol-based group intervention for children with chronic illnesses and their parents. Adding a parental component to the intervention contributed to the persistence of the effects. Future research should focus on moderating and mediating effects of the intervention.

Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure Revised II (PRISM-RII): a novel method to assess perceived burden of illness in diabetes patients.

BACKGROUND: The Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM) has been introduced as a visual measure of suffering. We explored the validity of a revised version, the PRISM-RII, in diabetes patients as part of the annual review. METHODS: Participants were 308 adult outpatients with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. MEASURES: (1) the PRISM-RII, yielding Self-Illness Separation (SIS) and Illness Perception Measure (IPM); (2) the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale, a measure of diabetes-related distress; (3) the WHO-5 Well-Being Index; (4) and a validation question on suffering (SQ). In addition, patients' complication status, comorbidity and glycemic control values(HbA1c) were recorded. RESULTS: Patients with complications did have marginally significant higher scores on IPM, compared to patients without complications. Type 2 patients had higher IPM scores than Type 1 patients. SIS and IPM showed low intercorrelation (r = -.25; p < .01). Convergent validity of PRISM-RII was demonstrated by significant correlations between IPM and PAID (r = 0.50; p < 0.01), WHO-5 (r = -.26; p < 0.01) and SQ (r = 0.36; p < 0.01). SIS showed only significant correlations with PAID (r = -0.28; p < 0.01) and SQ (r = -0.22; p < 0.01). Neither IPM nor SIS was significantly associated with HbA1c. The PRISM-RII appeared easy to use and facilitated discussion with care providers on coping with the burden of diabetes. CONCLUSION: PRISM-RII appears a promising additional tool to assess the psychological burden of diabetes.

Does maternal prenatal stress adversely affect the child's learning and memory at age six?

Prenatal maternal stress has been shown to affect postnatal development in animals and humans. In animals, the morphology and function of the offspring's hippocampus is negatively affected by prenatal maternal stress. The present study prospectively investigated the influence of prenatal maternal stress on learning and memory of 112 children (50 boys, 62 girls, Age: M=6.7 years, SD=8.4 months), with the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL). Maternal stress levels were determined three times during pregnancy by self-report questionnaires. Furthermore, maternal saliva cortisol samples were used as a measure of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Results of hierarchical multivariate regression analyses showed that maternal life events measured during the first part of pregnancy were negatively associated with the child's attention/concentration index, while controlling for overall IQ, gender, and postnatal stress. No associations were found between prenatal maternal cortisol and the offspring's learning and memory.