Family empowerment and associated factors in Japanese families raising a child with severe motor and intellectual disabilities

ObjectivesFamily caregivers raising children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) experience the enormous burden of care. The concept of family empowerment is one of the important assessment indexes of family nursing from the perspective of providing comprehensive support for these families. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with the empowerment of families raising a child with SMID in Japan.MethodsWe conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey involving 1659 primary caregivers raising a child with SMID through 89 special schools. We assessed the main outcomes using the Family Empowerment Scale (FES). We then conducted a multiple linear regression analysis to reveal the factors associated with family empowerment.ResultsIn total, 1362 primary caregivers were included in our study. Our results show that factors contributing to high FES scores are higher age of the primary caregiver, higher education, greater recognition of regional support, lower childcare burden, higher utilization of home visit services, higher usage of a childcare institution, higher household income, and stronger family bonding.ConclusionHealthcare professionals should carefully assess the state of family empowerment of the primary caregivers who are younger and those who have low education, low household income, high childcare burden, and fragile bonding with the family. Second, they should encourage such families to use regional support resources for childcare. That is, policy makers should consider ways to promote home visits and institutional services for the care of children with SMID, aiming especially for the provision of well-coordinated care and services

Family empowerment and associated factors in Japanese families raising a child with severe motor and intellectual disabilities

Objectives: Family caregivers raising children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) experience the enormous burden of care. The concept of family empowerment is one of the important assessment indexes of family nursing from the perspective of providing comprehensive support for these families. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with the empowerment of families raising a child with SMID in Japan. Methods: We conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey involving 1659 primary caregivers raising a child with SMID through 89 special schools. We assessed the main outcomes using the Family Empowerment Scale (FES). We then conducted a multiple linear regression analysis to reveal the factors associated with family empowerment. Results: In total, 1362 primary caregivers were included in our study. Our results show that factors contributing to high FES scores are higher age of the primary caregiver, higher education, greater recognition of regional support, lower childcare burden, higher utilization of home visit services, higher usage of a childcare institution, higher household income, and stronger family bonding. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should carefully assess the state of family empowerment of the primary caregivers who are younger and those who have low education, low household income, high childcare burden, and fragile bonding with the family. Second, they should encourage such families to use regional support resources for childcare. That is, policy makers should consider ways to promote home visits and institutional services for the care of children with SMID, aiming especially for the provision of well-coordinated care and services. Keywords: Caregivers, Child care, Disabled children, Family empowerment, Home nursing, Intellectual disability, Japan, Social support

Determination of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins, and Alpa-and Beta Carotenes in Buah Merah Oil By HPLC-UV Detection

A high-performance liquid chromatography-UV detection method for determination of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins and, Alpha-and Beta-carotenes in Buah Merah oil was developed. The separation of the four carotenoids was achieved by a combination of a Handy ODS column (150x4.6 mm, i.d.) and a Develosil Combi-RP-5 (50x4.6 mm, i.d.) via a 3-port switching valve. The mobile phase used was a mixture of CH3CN/CH3OH/ethyl acetate (=68:23:9, v/v/v). The retention times of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins and, Alpha and Beta-carotenes were 18, 20 53 and 60 min, respectively. The clean-up of Buah Merah oil was performed by liquid-liquid extraction after saponification with 13.5 M KOH solution. The calibration curves of the carotenoids showed good linearity (r> 0.000. The detection limits of four carotenoids at a signal-to noise of 3 were from 0.36 to1.14 ng/mg. Furthermore, the proposed method could be successfully applied to determine the carotenoids in 10 Buah Merah oil samples.

Peer group-based online intervention program to empower families raising children with disabilities : protocol for a feasibility study using non-randomized waitlist-controlled trial

Background Families raising children with disabilities assume risks to their health and lives. Therefore, it is necessary to support these families to improve family empowerment, which is the ability of these families to control their own lives and to promote the collaborative raising of children with disabilities. This is the first online intervention program focusing on the empowerment of families raising children with disabilities who live at home in Japan. Method The program consists of four online peer-based group sessions. Moreover, the families engage in several activities in stages wherein they discover their own issues, find measures to resolve them, and take action, while visualizing interfamily relationships, including social resources, and the status of their family life, with facilitators and other peer members. This study is a non-randomized, waitlist-controlled trial. It compares the results of the intervention group (early group) and the waitlist-controlled group (delayed group). The participants are allocated to the early or delayed group in the order of their applications. The main outcome is family empowerment. Other outcomes are the caregiver burden, self-reported capability to use social resources, self-compassion, and the quality of life (QOL) of primary caregivers. The timeline of the online outcome evaluation is as follows: the initial evaluation (Time 1 [T1]) is conducted before the start of the first early group program, and post-intervention evaluation (Time 2 [T2]) is conducted immediately (within 1 week) after the early group completes all four sessions (4 weeks) of the program. Follow-up evaluation (Time 3 [T3]) is conducted 4 weeks after the post-intervention evaluation. This timing is the same in the delayed group, but the delayed group will attend the program after a 4-week waiting period, compared to the early group. Discussion The intention is to evaluate whether the provision of the program developed in this study and the evaluation test design are feasible and to verify the efficacy of this program

Determination of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins, and Alpa-and Beta Carotenes in Buah Merah Oil by HPLC-UV Detection

A high-performance liquid chromatography-UV detection method for determination of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins and, Alpha-and Beta-carotenes in Buah Merah oil was developed. The separation of the four carotenoids was achieved by a combination of a Handy ODS column (150x4.6 mm, i.d.) and a Develosil Combi-RP-5 (50x4.6 mm, i.d.) via a 3-port switching valve. The mobile phase used was a mixture of CH3CN/CH3OH/ethyl acetate (=68:23:9, v/v/v). The retention times of Alpha-and Beta-cryptoxanthins and, Alpha and Beta-carotenes were 18, 20 53 and 60 min, respectively. The clean-up of Buah Merah oil was performed by liquid-liquid extraction after saponification with 13.5 M KOH solution. The calibration curves of the carotenoids showed good linearity (r> 0.000. The detection limits of four carotenoids at a signal-to noise of 3 were from 0.36 to1.14 ng/mg. Furthermore, the proposed method could be successfully applied to determine the carotenoids in 10 Buah Merah oil samples