Parental Response Style to Adolescent Self-Harm: Psychological, Social and Functional Impacts

Adolescent self-harm is a significant public health issue. We aimed to understand how parent stress response styles to their child’s self-harm affects their wellbeing and functioning and the wider family. Thirty-seven participants in Australia (parents; 92% female) completed a mixed methods survey regarding their adolescent child’s self-harm. We conducted Pearson zero-order correlations and independent t-tests to examine the impact of parent response style on their quality of life, health satisfaction, daily functioning, and mental health. We also used thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning in the data. Two-thirds of participants reported mental ill health and reduced functional capacity due to their adolescent’s self-harm. Parents with a more adaptive response style to stress had better mental health. Qualitative analyses revealed parents experienced sustained feelings of distress and fear, which resulted in behavioural reactions including hypervigilance and parental mental health symptoms. In the wider family there was a change in dynamics and parents reported both functional and social impacts. There is a need to develop psychological support for the adolescent affected and parents, to support more adaptive response styles, and decrease the negative effects and facilitate the wellbeing of the family unit.

Finalising the administration of co-SSPedi, a dyad approach to symptom screening for paediatric patients receiving cancer treatments

ObjectivesSymptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) is a validated self-report symptom screening tool for patients with cancer 8–18 years of age. Co-SSPedi is a novel dyad approach in which both child and parent complete SSPedi together. The objective was to finalise the approach to co-SSPedi administration with instruction that is easy to understand, resulting in dyads completing co-SSPedi correctly.MethodWe enrolled child and parent dyads, who understood English and where children (4–18 years) had cancer or were hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients. We provided each dyad with instruction on how to complete co-SSPedi together. Mixed methods were used to determine how easy or hard the instruction was to understand. Two raters adjudicated if co-SSPedi was completed correctly. Dyads were enrolled in cohorts of 12 evenly divided by age (4–7, 8–10, 11–14 and 15–18 years).ResultsWe enrolled 5 cohorts of 12 dyads, resulting in 60 dyads. Following verbal instruction provided in the first cohort, we identified the need for written instruction emphasising children should wait for parent response prior to entering scores. The instruction was iteratively refined based on qualitative feedback until the fifth cohort, where all 12 dyads found the instruction easy to understand and completed co-SSPedi correctly.ConclusionsWe developed a standard approach to dyad symptom screening named co-SSPedi with instruction that is easy to understand, resulting in correct co-SSPedi completion. Future efforts should focus on co-SSPedi validation and understanding how co-SSPedi scores compare to self- or proxy-reported symptom reporting.

RESPON ORANG TUA TERHADAP PEMBELAJARAN DARING PADA MASA PANDEMI COVID-19

This research was conducted with the aim to find out the response of parents to online learning during pandemic Covid-19 that was recently implemented at KB-RA Mambaul Ulum. This research uses descriptive quantitative research. Data collection using a questionnaire instrument. Based on a questionnaire that has been distributed to parents, an average percentage of 74.8% is obtained. This shows that students' parents responded positively to online learning during pandemic Covid-19. Kata Kunci: Parent Response, Daring Learning, Pandemic Covid-19.

Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of School-Based BMI Screening and BMI Report Cards Using Perceptual Mapping: Implications for School Nurses

Half of U.S. states measure students’ body mass index (BMI), with many communicating that information to parents through a “BMI report card” or notification letter. School nurses are usually responsible for implementing these programs and communicating results to parents. The purpose of this study was to understand parents’ perceptions of BMI screening programs to help inform school nurses about messages that are most helpful to use in report cards to motivate parents to follow-up with a health-care provider or to make behavioral changes for their child. Using a cluster analysis and perceptual mapping methods, a commercial marketing technique that creates three-dimensional graphic maps, we identified four unique clusters of parents based on their core attitudes and beliefs related to BMI screenings and report cards. Based on vector modeling techniques, key message strategies were developed that can be used by school nurses to enhance parent response to a BMI report card.

Leveraging Family to Promote Digital Health: Findings from the Pok�mon GO Mixed Methods Study of Children and Families (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Pokémon GO illuminated the potential for mobile gaming apps to engage users and promote health. However, much work is needed to fully understand mechanisms through which digitally supported behavior change intervention operate, particularly for children and families. OBJECTIVE The goal of the current study was to explore the user-experience and changes in physical activity since playing Pokémon GO from a family perspective and within the greater context of family health. Specifically, factors related to engagement, user trends over time, and health were examined from the perspective of parents, adult caregivers, and children/teen Pokémon GO players. METHODS In January-February 2017, congruent with one of the largest anticipated Pokémon GO updates “Gen 2,” a retrospective pre-post design was used to investigate changes in physical activity in parents and adult caregivers since playing Pokémon GO. Additional descriptive data was collected via a survey that incorporated both closed and open-ended questions from parents and adult caregivers who were impacted by a child/teen that played Pokémon GO. Children/teens who played Pokémon GO were also invited to participate. RESULTS Self-reported data from 160 adults and 31 children were included in the final analyses (representing 129 adults and 31 parent-child dyads). Gameplay most often occurred between mothers and sons ≤10 years old. “Spending time together” was the most cited reason for gameplay by both adults (76.3%) and children (77.4%), followed by “it helped me go outdoors” (70.1%) for adults and “I am a Pokémon fan” (67.7%) by children. Playing Pokémon GO also helped to satisfy the top three identified family goals: having fun, spending more time/quality time with child, and exercising more. Unique to this population, open-ended responses indicated child gameplay could trigger both positive and negative emotional parent response. Boredom was the most cited reason for app disengagement, while in-app events most contributed to reengagement. For adults, there were significant increases in minutes spent in mild (M=23.36, SD = 66.02; t(97)=3.50, P=.001) and moderate (M=21.76, SD 53.04; t(130)=4.70, P=.000) physical activity per week after playing Pokémon GO. However, dyadic data indicated that child perceptions of parental influence on physical activity most significantly associated with parents who reported weekly strenuous physical activity both before (rs =.514, P=.003) and after (rs =.536, P=.003) Pokémon GO uptake. CONCLUSIONS Pokémon GO transcended traditional understanding of digital health and uniquely reached across generations to engage users. Findings from this study highlight that, for a period of time, Pokémon GO fostered social and physical well-being for children and families through a multifaceted approach.

Longitudinal follow-up of factors associated with food selectivity in children with autism spectrum disorders

The objective of this study was to examine food selectivity in children with autism spectrum disorders longitudinally. Additionally explored were the stability of the relationship between food selectivity and sensory over-responsivity from time 1 to time 2 and the association between food selectivity and restricted and repetitive behavior at time 2. A total of 52 parents of children with autism were surveyed approximately 20 months after completing an initial questionnaire. First and second surveys each contained identical parent-response item to categorize food selectivity level and a scale to measure sensory over-responsivity. A new scale to measure restricted and repetitive behaviors was added at time 2. Results comparing time 1 to time 2 indicated no change in food selectivity level and a stable, significant relationship between food selectivity and sensory over-responsivity. The measure of restrictive and repetitive behavior (time 2) was found to significantly predict membership in the severe food selectivity group. However, when sensory over-responsivity and both restricted and repetitive behaviors were included in the regression model, only sensory over-responsivity significantly predicted severe food selectivity. These results support conclusions about the chronicity of food selectivity in young children with autism and the consistent relationship between food selectivity and sensory over-responsivity.