Eliciting children’s recall regarding home life and relationships

Abstract

Child interviews form an important component of custody evaluations. Yet, research on children’s responses to questions about home life and relationships is lacking. In the present study, children (N?=?47) aged 6 to 10?years were interviewed about their daily routines and family relationships. Responses to four categories of questions were compared: open and specific questions about routines, and negative and positive aspects of family relationships. Responses were coded for amount of information, informativeness, topic pertinence, and refusals to answer. Results suggested that questions about everyday routines and relationships elicit relevant and informative responses from children. It is suggested that interviewers begin with open-ended questions regarding daily routines to structure family law interviews with children.     

Comparing Opinions of People with Developmental Disabilities and Significant Persons in their Lives Using the Individual Supports Identification System (ISIS)

Fifty-two people with developmental disabilities were interviewed using the Individual Supports Identification System (ISIS). This study reports on persons with developmental disabilities, served by the State of Washington Division of Developmental Disabilities, and includes persons whose onset of disability was prior to 18. To be eligible for services, an individual must have a disability that falls within one of the following categories: (1) mental retardation; (2) cerebral palsy; (3) epilepsy; (4) autism; and (5) other types of central nervous system impairment closely related to mental retardation. Interviews were conducted with two groups. The first comprised individuals with developmental disabilities and the second, significant persons in the life of each participant in the first group. A significant person was considered to be someone known by the individual with disabilities for more than 6 months, spending more time with him or her than others. In addition, the significant person must like the individual with disabilities, and have his or her best interests in mind. Seventy-five per cent of significant persons interviewed were parents. Significant persons also responded to a series of ISIS questions. Responses from the individual with disabilities and from the significant person in his or her life were compared in order to determine similarities and differences in perspective. Comparisons focus on issues pertaining to friends and relationships, living environment and daily care needs.     

Happy Living in Darkness! Indoor Lighting in Relation to Activities of Daily Living,Visual and General Health in 75-Year-Olds Living at Home

ABSTRACT

Lighting has been identified as a significant environmental attribute for promoting vision and general health among older people, enabling successful aging at home, but it has received little attention in the literature. Indoor lighting levels, self-reported vision and general health, and activities of daily life were measured in 114 healthy 75-year-old Norwegians. Despite very low levels of indoor lighting, the subjects were happy and healthy. There is a large discrepancy between self-assessed health and recommended lighting levels, and low awareness of the effect of lighting on age-related vision loss or daily living in the future. Knowledge of how to utilize indoor lighting to ensure healthy and safe aging in the home is needed.     

The prevalence and nature of abuse and neglect in children under four: a national survey

This paper reports the results from a Danish national survey of child abuse and neglect. Data were obtained by a written questionnaire sent to all home health visitors. All newborn Danish children receive visits by a home health visitor several times during their first year of life. For children in need of special care for social reasons the visits may continue until school age (at 6 or 7 years). The questionnaire included four checklists of signs of abuse and neglect. The home health visitors were asked to record what they had actually observed visiting the children in their homes. Eighty‐three per cent (covering about 80% of all newborns) answered the questionnaire. The objective was to establish a scientific based framework that could be used to guide preventive efforts. Ten per cent of all children under 1 year of age may be characterized as children in need of special care for social reasons, the most frequent single reason being reliance on social assistance, alcohol abuse or violence against the mother. A minimum of 4% of infants are subjected to broadly defined abuse or neglect from one or more of the four categories: physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect, physical and emotional neglect being the most frequent and physical maltreatment the most rare. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The sibling relationship as a housing alternative to institutionalization in later life

The nature of the sibling relationship in middle and later life and the potential of living with a sibling as an alternative to institutionalization when independent living may no longer be possible was assessed using interviews with a random sample of 41 persons 56 to 84 years of age. Forty-nine percent of the respondents had lived with a sibling in adulthood usually for more than one year and over one-half would consider living together again. Men were somewhat more likely to have lived with a sibling in adulthood than were women. When a sibling went to live with another sibling, it was to a sister's home in 90 % of the cases. Almost none had previously considered living with a sibling in later life but ranked living with a sibling second to living in a nursing home and ranked it comparably with living with children. When asked directly their willingness to live with a sibling in later life, respondents were almost equally divided. Age, number of children, educational level, and a feeling of closeness particularly in middle age were found to be moderately correlated with willingness to live with a sibling.Dolores Cabic Borland earned a Ph.D. from Texas Women's University in Sociology and is presently an Associate Professor in Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University. Dr. Borland's current research interests include middle age and sibling relationships in middle age and later life.This research was supported in part by a grant from the Michigan State University Foundation, Grant # (ORD 26081) and parts were presented at the 1986 National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dolores Cabic Borland, Ph.D., Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1030.     

Quality of life of older people in Israel: a comparison between older people living at home who are members of a ‘supportive community’ and nursing home residents

The supportive community is a program that was developed in Israel for older people who live at home. The program provides its members with a service package that includes medical and social services, emergency call-button, cultural activities, and a ‘community parent’ who is responsible for the members. Using quantitative method, this study compared the level of quality of life between 55 older people living in their homes who are members of a supportive community (average age = 74.7) and 60 elderly people living in nursing homes (average age = 75.8). As expected, results indicate that quality of life among the older people living at their homes who are members of a supportive community was higher than among the older people living in a nursing home. In addition, the quality of life of married, educated, functionally independent older people in good health and with a good economic situation was higher. Predictor variables of quality of life were: the place of residence, health status, and age. In light of increased life expectancy and the growing need to care for the older population, the practical application of the study focused on a recommendation for the social services to continue the support community development program.     

Service Provision for an Independent Life

How is an independent daily life possible for disabled people when relying upon professional service provision and the bureaucratic gate-keeping systems of the welfare state? This article discusses this question in relation to an interview study. Eighteen mobility disabled and 20 service providers in one local setting in Norway were interviewed. We point out at least three categories regarding how independence is interpreted among the disabled: the super-normal, the independent living activists, and those experiencing powerlessness and lack of support. The analysis points out how these categories are constructed in relations between the disabled person, professional service providers and the gate-keeping systems of the welfare bureaucracy.     

Maternal attitudes of Greek migrant women

This study examines groups of Greek migrant mothers and their attitudes towards their children in different stages of the migratory process. There were 2 lots of samples of Greek migrants mothers who had at least 2 children 8-10 years old, 1 from the home country (5 villages of the District Drama in East Macedonia) and 1 from the receiving country (the area of Baden-Wurtenberg, where most of the migrants from East Macedonia are living). The 4 groups are: 1) 20 mothers who have always lived with their child in the host country; 2) 20 mothers who live in the host country where their child has joined them in the last 2-4 years; 3) 27 mothers who have lived in the host country with their child and have returned home in the last 2-4 years; and 4) 24 non-migrant mothers who have always lived with their families in the home country (control group). Women were interviewed using 2 questionnaires: a survey and an attitude questionnaire. The range of mothers' ages was 20-50 years. The youngest mothers were in the control group whereas group 1 mothers were the oldest. Groups 1 and 2 were mostly unskilled workers; groups 3 and 4 were mostly housewives. The returnees stayed in the host country a mean of 10 years, whereas the other 2 migrant groups were there 14.6 years. There were significantly fewer children in the families of groups 1 and 2 than 3 and 4. The attitude questionnaire covered the following child rearing practices: 1) training the child to participate in home duties; 2) keeping clean and tidy; 3) self-reliance and social behavior towards visitors; 4) ways of dealing with a child's obedience/disobedience; 5) dealing with favor-seeking behavior, food, and sleeping problems; and 6) mother's degree of permissiveness, supervision, and intervention on child's personal and interpersonal sphere of life. Findings show that moving from home to host country and coming back home creates the most controlling mothers, probably because mothers and children face anxiety-producing situations as they redefine family roles and readjust to the social environment. Returnees are as emotionally involved with their children as mothers who have always lived with their children in the host country. There are more similarities than differences between the 2 migrant groups. Both groups show similar attitudes to the control on 5 out of 7 composite variables. These findings suggest there is a strong cultural pattern in maternal attitudes which has not been affected by the sociocultural environment. The 2 groups of migrant mothers are similar to the returnees in their attitudes towards boys and girls except that returnees were more overprotective of boys than girls.     

In celebration of the closure of the Independent Living Fund

Over the last months we have heard calls to save the Independent Living Fund (ILF). Social media and Internet forums were flooded with emotional pleas to the government beyond its final days: parent carers and vocal disabled people calling for action to prevent themselves or loved ones being ‘imprisoned’ in their home, unable to use the toilet or having a life not worth living. ‘I will have no control, no choice and be unable to live in the community’, one person chanted. Others chanted ‘which side are you on’ (Channel 4 News). I found myself in a very unusual situation. Here I was, a campaigner for independent living all my adult life, a former Direct Payment Support Service Manager, social work lecturer and ILF recipient. Surely I would be devastated that the ILF had ended? My experience was entirely different, I celebrated.     

LIFE CHOICES—The Program and Its Users

Summary

LIFE CHOICES Is a pioneering sociological software program which realistically simulates the life cycle in contemporary America. The player goes through life, making choices about school, work, family, finance, health and daily living. The result is a life scenario, consisting of a sequence of choices, realistic outcomes, choices, etc. LIFE CHOICES provides a realistic context for thinking through decisions which occur at every stage of life. This article describes LIFE CHOICES, its application within school, home and counseling settings, and the issues which were involved in its development and marketing.     

Trade-Offs Between Formal Home Health Care and Informal Family CareGiving

Using 1994 National Long Term Care Survey data, we estimated logistic regressions of formal and informal home health care use and hours. Home health care use and intensity were differentially impacted by chronic conditions, are higher for Medicaid enrollees and rural or small town residents, but lower for HMO enrollees. Decreases in the probability of home health care use increased informal instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) support four hours and decreased informal activities of daily living (ADL) support eight hours weekly. IADL caregiving substituted for formal care, but ADL caregiving declined with reductions in formal care. Public policy reducing formal home health care access may reduce informal ADL caregiving and increase informal IADL caregiving, producing net declines in support.     

Better the devil you know? How product familiarity affects usage versatility of foods and beverages

Appropriateness of use evaluations can be used to explore consumers’ associations between products and usage situations. The degree of familiarity consumers have with a certain product has recently been suggested as a mediator of these evaluations, influencing both the number and the type of associations consumers hold with food and beverages. In this work, we extend previous results across multiple product categories, hereby generalizing the findings. Four consumer studies were conducted using fruit names (N = 246), white wine images (N = 112), chocolate bar images (N = 192), and kiwifruit images (N = 302) as test stimuli. In each study, consumers rated their perceived familiarity with each stimulus and evaluated the appropriateness of use in a range of situations relevant to the product category. Familiarity was confirmed as a moderator of appropriateness of use evaluations, and was positively linked to product versatility. Since familiarity is related to an individual’s exposure to a product, this could indicate that consumers use past experience with a product as a heuristic for their appropriateness evaluations. The variance in appropriateness evaluations explained by familiarity alone was, however, limited, and product-context associations were also contingent upon specific product characteristics. Taken together, the four studies reported here confirm that product familiarity is related to usage versatility, and indicate that consumers may find it challenging to envisage how unfamiliar food products can be incorporated into their existing dietary practices.     

Aging in Place in a Retirement Community: 90+ Year Olds

Aging in place, an image of growing old in one's home and maintaining one's daily routine, is desired by most older adults. To identify variables promoting such independent living in the oldest-old, we examined the association between living situation of a population-based cohort of 90+ year olds with health and lifestyle variables. Of 1485 participants, 53% still lived in their home at a retirement community designed to foster wellness. Those living at home tended to be healthier, with smaller proportions having chronic diseases or hospitalizations in the preceding year and a greater proportion having normal functional ability. Dementia was the chronic disease most significantly related to living situation. In addition to not having dementia, not using a wheelchair or bath aid, receiving meals on wheels, and being married were jointly related to living at home. With the help of family and friends and with a medical and social support system, many 90+ year olds can age in place. This is often because they have a caregiving spouse or paid caregiver.     

Long-term care preferences among older adults: a moving target?

This study investigates long-term care preferences across three hypothetical scenarios and over one year of time among a sample of disabled older women receiving informal care (n = 420). Unpaid or paid help in one's home was preferred, given scenarios of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and activities of daily living (ADL) needs; nursing home care was most preferred for dementia care. While aggregate preferences for long-term care were relatively stable, there was considerable fluctuation in individuals' preferences over time, with just 52.5%, 44.4%, and 44.6% of participants retaining their initial first choice across IADL, ADL, and dementia scenarios, respectively. Implications of study findings are discussed.     

Consumer response to crisis: Exploring the concept of involvement in Mattel product recalls

The present study examines two hypotheses: (1) there is a difference between how highly involved consumers perceived the 2007 Mattel product recalls and how national daily newspapers covered those recalls in terms of crisis responsibility and reputation; (2) the frequency of emotion manifested among highly involved consumers will increase over time. A content analysis of the bulletin boards for two parent online communities and a content analysis of four major daily newspapers were conducted. The data were consistent with the hypotheses proposed. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Housing Conditions and Risk: Reporting on a European Study of Housing Quality and Risk of Accidents for Older People

The declining capacities in older people often lead to limitations in activities of daily living and a simultaneous rising demand for care services. Many of these limitations in daily activities are to a varying degree caused, enhanced or facilitated by disadvantageous housing and environmental conditions. Home modifications have been credited as an important part of the solution, allowing for an extended and safer use of the home. In order to examine this issue in more detail, this paper provides empirical evidence on the type and extent of risks associated with accidents around the home. It reports on findings from a European case study on the difficulties using the home and risks of accidents which may lead to injury. It is argued that healthy housing conditions for older persons are important to maximize the supportive capacity of one's home, to stimulate an active and healthy lifestyle, and to avoid unnecessary institutionalization.     

The Nursing Home Compare Report Card: Consumers' Use and Understanding

The Nursing Home Compare report card provides information on the World Wide Web about quality measures for almost every nursing home in the United States. In this research, we first examined whether consumers were using Nursing Home Compare. Second, we examined whether consumers could accurately interpret the quality information given in Nursing Home Compare. Data were collected from 4754 family members of nursing home residents. A comprehension index was used to examine whether the information contained in Nursing Home Compare for each quality measure was understood by family members. We found that 31% of these consumers used the Internet in choosing a nursing home, and 12% recalled using Nursing Home Compare. We also found that, in general, the comprehension index scores were high, indicating good understanding. Simply having the Nursing Home Compare report card available does not mean that it will be used, nor does it mean that it can influence consumers in any meaningful way. The findings show that consumers understand Nursing Home Compare information, and approximately 12% currently access the Web site.     

‘Generation boomerang’ in Germany? Returning to the parental home in young adulthood

Leaving the parental home is not always a one-off event in the course of a person's life. Young adults can return one or more times before leaving home permanently. The aim of this article is to analyse the social and economic transition markers and socio-demographic factors which play a role in the return to the parental home of young adults in Germany. The analysis is based on the survey AID:A, conducted by the German Youth Institute in 2009. Data from 4300 young adults, aged 18–32 years, who left the parental home at least once, are used. Young adults are differentiated by their current residential status: living with at least one parent again (returners) or living outside the parental home (leavers). The results show that, the more financially and socially independent a young person is, the less likely they are to return to the family of origin. Furthermore, growing up in a two-parent family in West Germany as well as a strong relationship between fathers and sons increases the likelihood of returning to the parental home after leaving. Notably, it was also found that young adults of Turkish and Eastern European origin are more likely to return than those of German origin.