To determine whether seeking advice prior to an unscheduled visit to a pediatric emergency department (PED) influences appropriate use of this setting for minor illnesses.
Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.
The medical emergency department of the Montreal (Quebec) Children's Hospital, a major referral and urban teaching hospital.
Four hundred eighty-nine of 562 consecutive parents visiting the PED over two periods, one in February and the other in July 1989.
None.
Parents of children between 0 and 18 years of age visiting the PED were asked whether they had previously sought advice from family, friends, or a physician. Other factors possibly related to the decision to seek care were also measured. Appropriateness was rated, blind to discharge diagnosis, by two pediatricians using a structured series of questions incorporating the child's age, time of the visit, clinical state, and problem at presentation. Thirty-four percent of visits among respondents were judged appropriate. In bivariate analysis, appropriate visits occurred significantly more often when a parent spoke to both a physician and a nonphysician (47%) prior to visiting the PED than when no advice was sought (29%; P
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following participation in the ESPACE parents' workshop. A group of 55 parents who participated in the program, implemented in elementary schools in the Quebec city region, was compared to a group of 217 parents who did not attend the prevention workshop. The results revealed that attending parents suggested more adequate interventions to the vignette depicting a hypothetical situation of sexual abuse compared to nonattending parents. Attending parents are found to be more likely to suggest interventions sustaining the child in her own problem-solving process, seek help from specialized agencies, and attempt to offer emotional support to the victim. Data also reveal that the parents workshop has a positive outcome on knowledge. While the workshop is associated with beneficial outcomes, attendance rates are low. The findings are discussed in the context of identifying means to foster parent involvement in the prevention of child abuse.
Acquiring proficiency in motivational interviewing (MI) may be more difficult than generally believed, and training research suggests that the standard one-time workshop format may be insufficient. Although nurses represent one of the professions that have received most training in MI, training in this group has rarely been systematically evaluated using objective behavioral measures.
To evaluate an enhanced MI training program, comprising a 3.5-day workshop, systematic feedback on MI performance, and four sessions of supervision on practice samples.
Nurses (n = 36) in Swedish child health services were trained in MI. Skillfulness in MI was assessed using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) Code. Effects of training were compared to beginning proficiency thresholds.
Participants did not reach beginning proficiency thresholds on any of the indicators of proficiency and effect sizes were small.
The present study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that the current standard MI training format may not provide practitioners with enough skillfulness. Moreover, the results indicate that even enhanced training, including systematic feedback and supervision, may not be sufficient. Suggestions for improved MI training are made.
This retrospective cross-sectional study explored the associations of personality characteristics with parenting problems among 25 couples, one or both members of which were identified as alcoholics by virtue of their voluntary past completion of a residential program for alcoholics. Most of them (90%) scored lower, indicating their more problematic parental attitudes and behaviors, on all four scales of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI: inappropriate parental expectations of children, lack empathy for children's needs, value physical punishment, and parent-child role reversal) than average "normal" nonalcoholic, nonabusive adults. Such parenting problems were found to be very highly associated with clients' personality characteristics. For example, schizoid, schizotypal, histrionic, and passive aggressive characteristics (DSM-III-R-based) along with a few other personal characteristics of the couples, accounted for nearly all (90.2%, R2 = .902) of their propensity to reverse roles with their children. Findings also suggested that the identified parenting problems among alcoholic couples are amenable to programmatic intervention: the longer couples had participated in aftercare programs offered by the treatment facility the more appropriate and empathetic was their parenting.
There are no prospective studies that would have compared the relationships of different types of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with academic skills among children. We therefore investigated the associations of different types of PA and SB with reading and arithmetic skills in a follow-up study among children.
The participants were 186 children (107 boys, 79 girls, 6-8 yr) who were followed-up in Grades 1-3. PA and SB were assessed using a questionnaire in Grade 1. Reading fluency, reading comprehension and arithmetic skills were assessed using standardized tests at the end of Grades 1-3.
Among all children more recess PA and more time spent in SB related to academic skills were associated with a better reading fluency across Grades 1-3. In boys, higher levels of total PA, physically active school transportation and more time spent in SB related to academic skills were associated with a better reading fluency across the Grades 1-3. Among girls, higher levels of total PA were related to worse arithmetic skills across Grades 1-3. Moreover, total PA was directly associated with reading fluency and arithmetic skills in Grades 1-3 among girls whose parents had a university degree, whereas these relationships were inverse in girls of less educated parents.
Total PA, physically active school transportation and SB related to academic skills may be beneficial for the development of reading skills in boys, whereas factors that are independent of PA or SB may be more important for academic skills in girls.
In a questionnaire investigation concerning attitudes to and knowledge about MFR vaccination among 81 parents who did not want their children to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and German measles, the parents could be divided into two main groups with reasons formulated in advance: 41% stated that "infectious diseases are beneficial for children" including here their somatic and mental development and the parent-child relationship. The remaining parents based their attitudes on defective knowledge about MFR vaccination, fear of side effects, erroneous contraindications and attitudes such as: the MFR diseases are not serious and vaccination may cause serious disease, does not protect effectively or lowers the resistance of the population and that economy is a poor argument in favour of vaccination. Parents who were critical about the total information concerning the MFR programme were also more critical about their general practitioner than the remaining parents. 80% stated that the MFR programme had been introduced because it involved social economy while 56% thought that health benefits were the reason. It is concluded that further well-directed information about the MFR programme is essential, if the necessary vaccine coverage is to be obtained.
The baby was the focus of attention - first-time parents' experience of their intimate relationship. The purpose of this study was to describe the phenomenon of 'first-time parents' intimate relationship', to focus on their mental health, and the ability to support them professionally. Ten Swedish parents (five couples) were interviewed on two occasions, when the first baby was 6 and 18 months old, respectively. A descriptive phenomenological method was used. The findings show that the essence of the phenomenon is 'The baby was the focus of attention'. This had different meanings for the couples, putting them in two categories. For the first category, the essence was that the baby was the focus of mutual concern, which implied a fostered relationship. The strain of parenthood in this category was mild. In the second category, the baby was focused on at the expense of the father, who felt rejected emotionally. This impaired the relationship and parenthood involved a severe strain. The way the spouses communicated differed between the two categories. This study shows that mental health can be affected, especially among first-time fathers, and this could jeopardize the relationship and family health. An awareness of this fact is needed among the health professionals giving care to first-time parents.
The purpose of the study was to know the meaning of parents' experiences of being supported by professionals when having a child with disability. Data were obtained through unstructured interviews with 16 parents within 10 families and analyzed by a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Parents narrated experiences of being supported and not being supported, and the findings are presented as contrasting meanings. Being supported by professionals means gaining confidence as a parent and having the child seen as valuable. This is interpreted as being invigorated in parenthood, where sharing the mutual task and goal, which is the child's best, with professionals is a crucial aspect. The meaning of experiences of lack of support illuminates the consequences for the entire family's well-being and the struggle parents experience to gain confidence as parents and recognition of the child as valuable.
The purpose of this survey was to study the beliefs, expectations, and satisfaction of Canadian parents regarding fever and the treatment of their febrile children.
A survey was developed exploring caregiver beliefs and treatment strategies, as well as expectations and satisfaction with medical care. Some items were modeled after previous studies to allow comparison. Caregivers with febrile children were recruited from 2005 to 2007 at 3 urgent care centers and emergency departments in Edmonton, Canada: a pediatric emergency department (n = 376), an urban urgent care center (n = 227), and a suburban urgent care clinic (n = 173).
High and rapidly rising temperature, as well as physical symptoms associated with fever, caused concern in most parents surveyed. Seventy-four percent of parents felt that the elevated temperature from fever was dangerous and 90.3% always try to treat it. Forty degrees Celsius was the most commonly sited threshold for danger. Identifying the cause (80.6%) and seriousness (87.4%) of fever were the most com-mon stressors identified. Caregivers expected to receive information about the child's illness and appropriate treatment. The parents most often wanted information about febrile seizures and the potential dangers of febrile illness. Only 16.7% of caregivers expected anti-biotics. Nearly 92% of subjects were usually satisfied with medical care.
Fever phobia continues to be a significant issue for Canadian parents. As a result, they treat fever aggressively and often seek medical attention. Good communication is important for medical staff caring for febrile children and typically leads to satisfied parents.
