Raising Children in Risk Neighborhoods from Chile: Examining the Relationship between Parenting Stress and Parental Adjustment

Introduction: Parenting stress and parental adjustment could implicate key differences in the relational dynamics that parents establish with their children, particularly when families come from vulnerable social contexts. Method: Participants were 142 fathers and mothers from a risk neighborhood of Chile. The variables examined were parenting stress (parental distress, parent–child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child) and parental adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress). Parents also completed a sociodemographic characterization survey. The statistical analyses were a correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses. Results: Overall, not all components of parenting stress were related to parental adjustment. Only parental distress was found as a significant predictor of poor parental adjustment (greater depression, anxiety, and stress), but not parent–child dysfunctional interaction and having a difficult child. Conclusions: The present study findings highlight the influence of stress on parenting as a relevant dimension of research for the improvement of the intervention deployed by the state regarding the protection of vulnerable Chilean children, providing multiple clinical and psychosocial applications for research and intervention purposes.

Parental perspective: The role of prostheses and prosthetics services in adjusting to a child’s upper limb difference

BACKGROUND: The impact of paediatric upper limb difference may extend beyond the child themselves to their parents and other family members. Previous research has found that feelings of shock, numbness and loss are common amongst parents and that peer support can be a buffer against stress. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to explore the experiences of parents of children with limb difference, and the role of services and prosthetic devices in these experiences. METHODS: Nine parents of children with limb difference participated in either a group (n= 2) or individual (n= 7) interview. RESULTS: Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed four themes – ‘grief and guilt’, ‘prosthesis as a tool for parental adjustment’, ‘support’ and ‘fun and humour’. CONCLUSIONS: Parents may employ coping strategies to help them adjust to their child’s limb difference, including use of a prosthesis, accessing support from statutory services and peers, and use of fun and humour within the family.

Transactional Model of Parental Adjustment and Caregiving Burden Following a Children's Acquired Disability

Objectives Pediatric-acquired disability is often a crossroads in the lives of children and their parents, as they set out to adjust to a new physical impairment. This longitudinal study examined associations between the severity of children’s-acquired disability, their parents’ caregiver burden and adjustment, and parents’ perception of the children’s adjustment over time. Methods Participants were parents and medical staff of 140 children with acquired disability, aged 1–18, hospitalized in pediatric or rehabilitation departments. Data were collected about 1 month after diagnosis (T1) and about 4 months later (T2). Parents completed background information, caregiver burden, child, and parental adjustment questionnaires. Medical staff contributed the disability severity indices. Results The severity of the child’s disability was negatively associated with parents’ adjustment and perception of the child’s adjustment. Caregiver burden was positively associated with the severity of the disability, and negatively with parents’ adjustment and perception of their child’s adjustment, at both time points. Over time, the severity of the disability and caregiver burden decreased, and parents’ adjustment and perception of the child’s adjustment improved. At T2, parents’ and children’s adjustment were strongly associated. Conclusions The findings revealed the relationship between objective severity indices and caregiver burden. They suggest that parents’ adjustment may affect their perception of the child’s adjustment to disability, and emphasize the role of parental perceptions over time. Therefore, parents who are less likely to adjust effectively should be identified early on to facilitate professional intervention.

The Effectiveness of Family Group Counseling Program Based on Structural Theory in the Parenting Skills and Family Parental Adjustment among Alternative Families

This study aimed to explore the impact of a family group counseling program in the parenting skills and family parental adjustment among alternative families that have included a child into their families through alternative care programs offered by the Ministry of Social Development. The study population which was selected in a purposive way, consisted of (16) alternative families. They were randomly assigned into which experimental group (8) families and the control group (8) families, the parental skills and the family parental adjustment scales were applied pre, posttest and fellow up test at the study groups. A family counseling program based on structural theory had been developed, it consists of (15) sessions and applied on the experimental group. The results of the study indicated: There were statistically significant differences in the total, sub tests parental skills, and the family parental adjustment; were in a favor of the experimental group. There were no statistically significant differences in the parental skills and family adjustment according to the gender. There were no statistically significant differences between post-test and the follow-up test on the experimental group in the parental skills and family parental adjustment. The study recommended applying this program, on alternative families.

DOZ047.35: Early parental adjustment in esophageal atresia and other rare abdominothoracic malformations

Parents of a child with a congenital malformation including esophageal atresia (OA), congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), or intestinal atresia (IA) have to face various potentially stressful situations and exercise their role in a highly medicalized context. Yet no study has so far sought to identify the factors that facilitate or make difficult their adjustment of the first months. This study aimed to propose a grounded theory to account for the dynamics of parental adjustment for the period from the announcement of the diagnosis to the age of one year of the child with a rare abdominothoracic malformation requiring neonatal surgery. Participants were recruited to form a reasoned sample of 30 parents of children aged from 12 to 36 months with an OA, a CDH, or an IA. To date, 22 parents (17 mothers and 5 fathers) have been included. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted in which four main themes were discussed: the medical and hospital care of the child, the daily life with the child at home, the consequences of the illness on family life, and personal experience. Preliminary results show that the child's condition impact parental adjustment and family functioning. Parents reported high level of distress and fatigue during the first year of their child. The highly medicalized context makes it more difficult for parents to practice their parental role and bring them to expense energy to implement normalization strategies in their parental practices. Interestingly, the relationship with doctors and medical staff has been widely discussed by parents. Most of them felt a lack of information about their child's condition, or felt that the information was not authentic. Some of them felt that doctors were trying to protect them by omitting certain events that they ended up learning by the medical staff. All parents pointed the availability, the quality of the educational relationship, the emotional and informational support from the medical staff allowing them to feel more effective and to reduce their negative feelings. Results of our study will be used to design appropriate psychoeducational interventions in order to improve support for families.