Evaluation of a Support Group for Parents of Children Hospitalized for Cancer and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

ABSTARCT

Social isolation and high levels of psychosocial stress are common among parents of children who are hospitalized for cancer treatment. Many hospital-based programs offer support groups for parents, however there is little published guidance or systematic evidence on their effectiveness. This study describes the development and program evaluation of a 16-week parent support group offered to parents (N = 10) of children hospitalized for pediatric cancer or bone-marrow transplant. A summary of the pilot evaluation is provided and successes, barriers, and areas for future improvement are discussed.     

A New Multidimensional Measure of Development: The Role of Technology and Institutions

This paper constructs four structural indices by using 42 socioeconomic variables for 129 countries and the 10 years period from 2003 to 2012. Each structural index can be considered as a measure of a certain dimension of development. The first two indices are the most useful in explaining gaps in development across countries. The first captures the role of technology and institutional quality while the second provides a measure of the basic level of development. The contrast between them signifies that the notion of development is not only multidimensional, but also changing with the stage of development. These two indices are combined to form a development index (DI). A comparison of DI to income per capita and the Human Development Index highlights the importance of institutions in the transition of countries from merely having high income to full development. A methodological contribution of the paper is to use a Jackknife approach within the factor analysis routine to test for the significance of the extracted factors/indices.     

Individual differences in infancy research: Letting the baby stand out from the crowd

Within the developmental literature, there is an often unspoken tension between studies that aim to capture broad scale, fairly universal nomothetic traits, and studies that focus on mechanisms and trajectories that are idiographic and bounded to some extent by systematic individual differences. The suitability of these approaches varies as a function of the specific research interests at hand. Although the approaches are interdependent, they have often proceeded as parallel research traditions. The current review notes some of the historical and empirical bases for this divide and suggests that each tradition would benefit from incorporating both methodological approaches to iteratively examine universal (nomothetic) phenomena and the individual differences (idiographic) factors that lead to variation in development. This work may help isolate underlying causal mechanisms, better understand current functioning, and predict long‐term developmental consequences. In doing so, we also highlight empirical and structural issues that need to be addressed to support this integration.     

Quantity and Quality of Gestural Input: Caregivers’ Sensitivity Predicts Caregiver–Infant Bidirectional Communication Through Gestures

Children's use of pointing and symbolic gestures—early communication skills which predict later language—is influenced by frequency of adults’ gestures. However, we wonder whether, like language, the sensitivity of adult–child interactions is also important for encouraging child gesturing, rather than simply quantity of adult gestural input. Furthermore, children's use of gestures influences qualities of adult–child interaction, eliciting greater responsiveness and richer communication. Thus, we investigated the moderating role of nonparental caregiver sensitivity on the relationship between caregivers’ and infants’ use of pointing and symbolic gestures. We observed 10 infants (ages 6–19 months) over 8 months with a total of 24 student caregivers completing short‐term internships, recording adult and child use of pointing and symbolic gestures. We used longitudinal growth models to examine change in gesturing and moderating roles of caregiver sensitivity in the relations between caregiver and child gesturing behavior. Caregivers’ sensitivity moderated effects of caregivers’ symbolic gestures on infants’ pointing and symbolic gestures, and the effects of infants’ pointing and symbolic gesture frequency on caregivers’ gesture use. Thus, caregivers’ gestures are most effective in supporting child gestures when in the context of sensitive interactions. Sensitivity is central to supporting children's early communicative behaviors, including pointing and symbolic gestures.     

The Home and the ‘Hood: Associations Between Housing and Neighborhood Contexts and Adolescent Functioning

Adolescents from low‐income families face various opportunities and constraints as they develop, with possible ramifications for their well‐being. Two contexts of particular importance are the home and the neighborhood. Using adolescent data from the first two waves of the Three‐City Study (N = 1,169), this study explored associations among housing problems and neighborhood disorder with adolescents' socioemotional problems, and how these associations varied by parental monitoring and gender. Results of hierarchical linear models suggest that poor‐quality housing was most predictive of the functioning of girls and of adolescents with restrictive curfews, whereas neighborhood disorder was a stronger predictor for boys. Implications for future research on associations between housing and neighborhood contexts and adolescent development are discussed.     

Foster Parents as a Critical Link and Resource in International Adoptions From Guatemala

Before the recent implementation of the Hague Convention requirements on intercountry adoption in Guatemala, most children in the process of being adopted by foreign nationals were cared for by foster parents. In the present study, 16 Guatemalan foster parents were interviewed regarding their experiences with and attitudes toward international and domestic adoption and fostering. Although adoption was generally described in positive terms as a means to improve the child's future, respondents also emphasized the economic dimension of international adoption. Foster parents’ views implied actions that are important for implementation of the Hague Convention requirements, including addressing poverty as the root cause of child relinquishment, reducing structural and attitudinal barriers to domestic adoption, and enlisting the aid of extended families in caring for children. With training and licensing, foster parents themselves might play a role in post-Hague procedures for providing families for children.     

Understanding the roles of subjective and objective aspects of time in the work-family interface

The experience of time has been posited as an important predictor of work-family conflict; however, few studies have considered subjective and objective aspects of time conjointly. This study examined the reported number of hours dedicated to work and family as indices of objective aspects of time, and perceived time pressure (in the work and family domains respectively) as an important feature of the subjective nature of temporal experiences within the work-family interface. Results indicate that the stress of having insufficient time to fulfill commitments in one domain (i.e., perceived time pressure) predicts work-family conflict, and that perceived time pressures predict the amount of time allocated to a domain. Additionally, findings suggest that domain boundaries are not symmetrical, with work boundaries being more rigidly constructed than family boundaries. Work-to-family and family-to-work conflict were generally related to overall health, turnover intentions, and work performance, as expected.     

From Damsels in Distress to Sexy Superheroes

Video games are an important form of media that have the potential to impact gender role attitudes. Sexist portrayals of characters may affect gender behaviors and attitudes. As such, it is important to discover how characters, particularly females, are portrayed in video games. The current study examined video game magazines analyzing the portrayal of female video game characters and how this portrayal has changed in the last twenty years. Results indicate a growing trend toward a decreased benevolent sexism portrayal and an increase in a hostile sexism portrayal over time.     

How the Risk of Displacement for Older Workers Has Changed

Using Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition and relying on the consistent design of the Displaced Worker Survey since 1996, this study analyses various factors contributing to the rising dislocation of older workers, such as changes in tenure, industry mix, educational attainment, and labor force participation. Although in the past older workers were less prone to displacement compared with prime‐age workers, this paper finds that older workers are now more likely to be displaced, conditional on education, manufacturing industry, and tenure. Declining tenure, a higher incidence of displacement in manufacturing, and a higher labor force participation among older workers largely explain the convergence of displacement rates among older and prime‐age workers.