Intergenerational Coresidence Among Small Farmers in Brazilian Amazônia

This article examines intergenerational coresidence among rural farm families near Santarém, Pará, Brazil using survey data collected by the authors on 896 children whose parents live in 175 households on 150 farms. Married adult children, daughters, and the best educated are more likely to live off their parents’ rural property (vs. on the property). Results support arguments that coresidence results from the interests of children rather than the control that parents exert over children. These results have implications for our understanding of intergenerational relations in the developing world and for the future development of similar areas.     

A Collaboratively Designed Child Mental Health Service Model: Multiple Family Groups for Urban Children with Conduct Difficulties

This paper presents preliminary outcomes associated with an experimental, longitudinal study of a Multiple Family Group (MFG) service delivery approach set within thirteen urban outpatient clinics serving children and their families living in inner-city, primarily African American and Latino communities. Specifically, this paper focuses on parent reports of child oppositional behavior and parenting stress over time. MFG is a flexible, protocol-driven approach designed to address the most common reason for referral to outpatient child mental health clinics, childhood behavioral difficulties. The MFG also aims to enhance family-level engagement and retention in ongoing care. Further, the service delivery model was collaboratively developed with intensive input from parents rearing children with conduct difficulties, parent advocates, community-based child mental health providers and services research staff in order to ultimately expand the number of effective service models that can be situated within "real world," urban child mental health settings.     

Stillbirth and the Couple: A Gender-Based Exploration

ABSTRACT

The stillbirth of a baby occurs in about 1 in 110 families yearly. Yet, little is understood about the ways in which grieving mothers and fathers experience the baby's death. This study is intended to explore the ways in which bereaved parents perceive and cope with the death of their baby and how the baby's death affects them both individually and as a couple. Respondents answered open-ended questions about their experiences. Results suggest that mothers and fathers grieve individually and collectively, struggling to find meaning in their losses. Responses to a baby's death may depend, in part, on the parent's gender, as well as on the individual's locus of control, couple and family cohesion, the degree of attachment to the baby, and social support. The death of a baby may create conflict in a marital dyad, yet many couples also experience a greater sense of closeness. A therapeutic relationship that is nonhierarchical and egalitarian, focusing on “keeping the therapist close to the experience of each partner” (Vatcher &; Bogo, 2001 Vatcher , C. , &; Bogo , M. ( 2001 ). The feminist/emotionally focused therapy practice model: An integrated approach for couple therapy . Journal of Marital and Family Therapy , 27 ( 1 ), 69 – 83 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 76) may offer a place where the marital relationship can flourish after such a tragic experience.     

Chinese Twin Children Reared Apart and Reunited: First Prospective Study of Co-Twin Reunions

China's one-child policy led to the abandonment of tens of thousands of infants. Included among these children were twins who were adopted and reared separately. Since 2006, 10 reunited twin sets participated in the first prospective study of twins reared apart. This exploratory study reports a qualitative analysis of the children's reactions to their first meeting with, and departure from, their co-twin. The majority of twins 18 months of age and older displayed strong attraction upon first meeting. Leave-taking included sadness, but responses varied across pairs. Theoretical interpretations of the findings and implications for parenting reared-apart adopted twins are provided.     

Development of a Preliminary Framework for Informing the Risk Analysis and Risk Management of Nanoparticles

Decisions are often made even when there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes. However, methods for making decisions with uncertainty in the problem framework are scarce. Presently, safety assessment for a product containing engineered nano-scale particles is a very poorly structured problem. Many fields of study may inform the safety assessment of such particles (e.g., ultrafines, aerosols, debris from medical devices), but engineered nano-scale particles may present such unique properties that extrapolating from other types of studies may introduce, and not resolve, uncertainty. Some screening-level health effects studies conducted specifically on engineered nano-scale materials have been published and many more are underway. However, it is clear that the extent of research needed to fully and confidently understand the potential for health or environmental risk from engineered nano-scale particles may take years or even decades to complete. In spite of the great uncertainty, there is existing research and experience among researchers that can help to provide a taxonomy of particle properties, perhaps indicating a relative likelihood of risk, in order to prioritize nanoparticle risk research. To help structure this problem, a framework was developed from expert interviews of nanotechnology researchers. The analysis organizes the information as a system based on the risk assessment framework, in order to support the decision about safety. In the long term, this framework is designed to incorporate research results as they are generated, and therefore serve as a tool for estimating the potential for human health and environmental risk.     

'I can see parents being reluctant': perceptions of parental involvement using child and family teams in schools

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes beliefs, and perceptions of school and community personnel regarding parental involvement via the implementation of child and family team meetings. Interviews were conducted with 10 school and community personnel in a high school in a small county in the south-eastern region of the USA. Several themes emerged from the data, including the definition of parental involvement, parental work and life circumstances, and parental esteem and position within schools. Findings suggest that school and community personnel hold conflicting beliefs regarding parents' desire and ability to be involved in their children's schooling. Recommendations for social work practitioners' implementation of child and family team meetings in the school context are provided.     

Modeling the Dose Response Relationship of Waterborne Acanthamoeba

This study developed dose response models for determining the probability of eye or central nervous system infections from previously conducted studies using different strains of Acanthamoeba spp. The data were a result of animal experiments using mice and rats exposed corneally and intranasally to the pathogens. The corneal inoculations of Acanthamoeba isolate Ac 118 included varied amounts of Corynebacterium xerosis and were best fit by the exponential model. Virulence increased with higher levels of C. xerosis. The Acanthamoeba culbertsoni intranasal study with death as an endpoint of response was best fit by the beta‐Poisson model. The HN‐3 strain of A. castellanii was studied with an intranasal exposure and three different endpoints of response. For all three studies, the exponential model was the best fit. A model based on pooling data sets of the intranasal exposure and death endpoint resulted in an LD₅₀ of 19,357 amebae. The dose response models developed in this study are an important step towards characterizing the risk associated with free‐living amoeba like Acanthamoeba in drinking water distribution systems. Understanding the human health risk posed by free‐living amoeba will allow for quantitative microbial risk assessments that support building design decisions to minimize opportunities for pathogen growth and survival.     

Collaborative Care at a Distance: Student Therapists' Experiences of Learning and Delivering Relationally Focused Telemental Health

There is mounting evidence that telemental health is an effective delivery method for treating a variety of mental, emotional, behavioral, and relational health problems. While many of the therapeutic skills leading to the effectiveness of face-to-face treatments are transferable, the effectiveness of telemental health requires unique skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine the experience of learning how to use videoconferencing to deliver relationally focused mental health care. Participants included 10 graduates of a COAMFTE-accredited master's degree program emphasizing training in telemental health. Each student had practicum placements that required videoconferencing to deliver relationally based psychotherapy. Analysis of interview data revealed (a) personal reservations about distance delivery; (b) the importance of scaffolding student learning through curriculum, supervision, and mental health-care delivery protocols; (c) the technological barriers associated with this delivery method; and (d) overcoming technological barriers through intentionality.