Emotional interactions and an ethic of care: caring relations in families affected by HIV and AIDS

In the context of global processes of economic restructuring, the HIV and AIDS epidemic and socio-cultural constructions of care, many women and young people in low-income households have been drawn into caring roles within the family. Drawing on the literature on an ethics of care, emotional geographies and embodiment, this paper examines the emotional dynamics of the caring process in families affected by HIV and AIDS. Based on the perspectives of both ‘caregivers’ and ‘care-receivers’ from research undertaken in Namibia, Tanzania and the UK, we examine the everyday practices of care that women and young people are engaged in and explore how emotions are performed and managed in caring relationships. Our research suggests caregivers play a crucial role in providing emotional support and reassurance to people with HIV, which in turn often affects caregivers' emotional and physical wellbeing. Within environments where emotional expression is restricted and HIV is heavily stigmatised, caregivers and care-receivers seek to regulate their emotions in order to protect family members from the emotional impacts of a chronic, life-limiting illness. However, whilst caregiving and receiving may lead to close emotional connections and a high level of responsiveness, the intensity of intimate caring relationships, isolation and lack of access to adequate resources can cause tensions and contradictory feelings that may be difficult to manage. These conflicts can severely constrain carers' ability to provide the ‘good care’ that integrates the key ethical phases in Tronto's (1993) ideal of the caring process

Transition to kindergarten for children with disabilities: school practices and parent involvement

Using Pianta and Walsh's (1996) Contextual Systems Model (CSM), this study analyzed parent involvement in school as a key element for transition to kindergarten for children with disabilities and their families, along with the practices schools employ to improve school-family collaboration. Focusing on the relationship between the school system and the family/child system, this research explored the parent involvement and the factors influencing it using the views of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995), Eccles and Harold (1996), and Smith et al. (1997). The study drew from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Year of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) a subsample of 1,016 children who have Individualized Education Programs (IEP). A profile of kindergarten-aged children with disabilities was created. School practices related to families were found to be low-intensity, formalized, and poorly correlated in number with degree of parent involvement. Parent involvement was assessed using seven items from the parent interviews. The items measured whether or not a parent participated in parent involvement activities with the schools during the kindergarten year. A composite variable measuring the number of types of activities a parent was involved in during the kindergarten year was created and used in a Linear Regression. A second parent involvement variable measuring the total number of activities that parents reported was created and used in a second Linear Regression. Parent involvement was unbalanced; i.e., parents tended to become involved in some types of parent involvement activities, but not in all types, and they chose different types. Family demographics (education, language), other family characteristics (perceptions, expectations, involvement at home) were found to be significant predictors for parent involvement. These results are discussed, and recommendations are offered

An investigation of the arrangements for the provision of education for pupils who are out of school by reason of illness

This thesis reports on a study which investigated the impact of the decision­making process under the remit of the Education Act 1996 s. 19, on local education authority (LEA) arrangements for educating children out of school by reason of illness in order to contribute to policy development in the area of parental involvement. A multiple site case study of the administration of exceptional provision in English LEAs was conducted. Fifteen contrasting LEAs were contacted. Seven LEAs volunteered (two shire counties; one metropolitan district; one unitary and three London). Twenty one LEA professionals who were responsible for hospital and home tuition services, and 35 parents of 35 children (24 children residing in case study LEAs; 11 children residing in non case study LEAs) volunteered to participate in the study. In-depth qualitative data were collected between March 1998 and March 1999 by means of semi-structured interviews and document collation. Overall, the data from parents suggested that diversity existed in the type and quality of provision, but less diversity existed in the quantity of provision that pupils received. Consistency existed in the pragmatic nature of factors related to the outcomes described by parents, and the data from LEA documents and professionals' perceptions. Enabling legislation and inconsistent levels of accountability allowed LEA professionals substantial discretion in decisions about the type of provision that pupils received and the quality of the arrangements. The diversity of family provision contributed to the diversity of the outcomes for pupils also. The data from LEA professionals suggested that the main effects of professional decision-making in the administration of provision were rationing and displacement of responsibility to the school and parents. Given the pragmatic nature of factors responsible for the diversity in the type and quality of LEA provision that pupils received, together with evidence of rationing the quantity of resources allocated, the study concluded that the determining factor influencing professional decision­making was inadequate resources to fund LEA provision. The data from LEA documents, professionals and parents suggested that the main effects of the informal involvement of parents in professional ecision making was parental influence on the type and quality of provision, but not the quantity of LEA provision. Given the limiting factor of inadequate resources and the lack of influence of parents on the quantity of LEA resources allocated, it was likely that financial pressure within the LEA caused the displacement of responsibility for provision to schools. The discourse of participants suggested that professionals were in control of the decision-making process and parents accepted responsibility to liaise between stakeholders. The diversity of parents' needs was related to the effectiveness of the parent to influence decisions or situations that impinged on the type of provision and quality of the arrangements that pupils received. The implications of the findings for decision-makers and possible areas for policy development are discussed

Modifiability of the psychomotor domain

Bibliography: p. 194-225

Sleep Problems in Young Children With and Without Behavior Problems

There are numernus social, emotional, and behavioral problems toddlers and preschool children can exhibit. Some of the more common problems reported by parents of young children are daytime behavior problems and sleep disturbances. This study investigated sleep difficulties in toddler and preschool-age children with (n = 31) and without (n = 59) significant behavior problems. Furthermore, the current study investigated the relationship between sleep difficulties and other psychological constructs (i.e., maternal general stress, maternal depression, and parenting stress), which might be related to sleep and behavior problems. Mothers of clinically referred children with behavior problems and nonclinically referred children without behavior problems completed measures regarding their children\u27s sleep and behavior as well as their own general stress, parenting stress, and depressive symptomology. Overall, children with behavior problems showed significantly more sleep difficulties than children without behavior problems. Specifically, when compared to children without behavior problems, children with behavior problems took more time to initiate sleep, showed increased bedtime resistance, had more night wakings, and had shorter sleep durations. Additionally, the results showed that other factors (i.e., maternal depression, family stress, parent-child relationship stress) likely contribute to and/or maintain sleep disturbances in children. The findings from this study suggest a complex relationship between childhood sleep, daytime externalizing behaviors, and maternal health. Potential clinical implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed

THE EFFECT OF MUSIC THERAPY SESSIONS ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AND HOW TO MEASURE IT, WITH REFERENCE TO ATTACHMENT THEORY

Music therapy and attachment is an expanding field and the number of studies addressing the theoretical work is slowly growing. There are both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the effect of regular music therapy sessions on parent-child interactions and these cover a range of patient populations including: children at risk of neglect, parents with a trauma history, children coping with bereavement and a large number addressing the disability population, including autism spectrum disorder. These studies suggest that music therapy benefits the parent-child relationship through the improvement communication, especially non-verbal communication, and so increased the feeling of closeness and understanding. Following a review of the available literature, a pilot study is described using transcripts of video recordings of music therapy sessions, and subsequent colour coding and conversion of the data into pie charts provides a potential method of analysis that produces an “interaction profile” of each parent-child dyad. Preliminary results of this method of analysis suggest that music therapy sessions might be able to improve interactions through therapists addressing the power dynamics within a relationship. The new method developed in this pilot study to visualise and study the parent-child relationship in music therapy sessions was effective and could be used and developed by music therapy researchers in the future

THE EFFECT OF MUSIC THERAPY SESSIONS ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS AND HOW TO MEASURE IT, WITH REFERENCE TO ATTACHMENT THEORY

Music therapy and attachment is an expanding field and the number of studies addressing the theoretical work is slowly growing. There are both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the effect of regular music therapy sessions on parent-child interactions and these cover a range of patient populations including: children at risk of neglect, parents with a trauma history, children coping with bereavement and a large number addressing the disability population, including autism spectrum disorder. These studies suggest that music therapy benefits the parent-child relationship through the improvement communication, especially non-verbal communication, and so increased the feeling of closeness and understanding. Following a review of the available literature, a pilot study is described using transcripts of video recordings of music therapy sessions, and subsequent colour coding and conversion of the data into pie charts provides a potential method of analysis that produces an “interaction profile” of each parent-child dyad. Preliminary results of this method of analysis suggest that music therapy sessions might be able to improve interactions through therapists addressing the power dynamics within a relationship. The new method developed in this pilot study to visualise and study the parent-child relationship in music therapy sessions was effective and could be used and developed by music therapy researchers in the future

The Influence of Cultural and Social Capital on Post-Baccalaureate Students’ Decision to Enter and Complete Graduate School

Despite increased diversity noted in undergraduate education in recent years (Antonio, 2003), students from non-majority groups continue to be underrepresented in graduate school. Many research studies (Perna, 2000, 2004; Perna & Titus, 2005; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007; Walpole, 2003, 2007b) have used measures of cultural and social capital to increase the explanatory power of the traditional econometric framework in college choice models, but have not used these sociological variables as a primary focus. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the influence of cultural capital and social capital on the decision of bachelor’s degree completers to enter graduate school and ultimately to degree achievement. The study is an extension of Perna’s 2004 work, which examined similar relationships of cultural and social capital variables via use of the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/97 study. Based on Walpole’s findings (2003), variables related to socioeconomic status (SES) were also included in my analysis. The data used to answer the research questions were collected as part of a longitudinal study, the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03. Participants in the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03 study were students in the U.S. who earned a bachelor’s degree during the 1992-1993 academic year, representing a population of 1.2 million individuals (Choy, Bradburn, & Carroll, 2008). My findings revealed that measures of cultural and social capital have a significant influence on graduate school enrollment and degree completion. Among low SES students (as designated by family income) cultural and social capital variables substantially increased the likelihood of graduate degree attainment

Becoming a disabled mother: A qualitative longitudinal study

This thesis seeks to make sense of the complexity of the experience of becoming a disabled mother as made and lived in a dynamic process that is social, embodied, emotional, and temporal. There is limited empirical research that has investigated the experience of disabled motherhood and a relative absence of research that has followed disabled women's processes of identity over the course of the first year of motherhood. This thesis seeks to fill that gap. The empirical base for this thesis includes material collected from six longitudinal case studies, with disabled women interviewed three times in the first-year transition to becoming a mother. By focusing on what women do with their bodies, or their pursuit of distinct body projects, I reveal insights into my participants' experience and understanding of disability at this stage in the life-course, during which the embodied experience is subject to change and transformation. Drawing on post-structural concepts of power and agency, I explore the possibilities and limitations within my participants' strategies of sense-making for engineering a liveable life in relation to dominant social norms. These in sights speak to a debate within the disability movement about the nature of disability (as experience) as the basis of individual and collective identity and the kind of support disabled mothers need, which can inform social and healthcare practice. Methodologically, I utilise an innovative psycho-social longitudinal research design and method to enrich and develop my understanding of this process. Researcher subjectivity, difference and temporality are all regarded as important tools for revealing emotional dynamics and processes of intelligibility