Parent-Child Autonomic Synchrony During Vicarious Extinction Learning in Pediatric PTSD

Children must learn basic functional processes directly from their caregivers and child psychopathology may disrupt this transmission. This transmission may be seen through biological measures like peripheral nervous system outputs like skin conductance (SCR). Fear learning deficits have been seen in affective disorders like PTSD and are useful for studying parent-child learning transmission. Our study uses a vicarious fear extinction paradigm to study if biological synchrony (SCR and heart rate variability (HRV)) are potential mechanisms in which children learn safety cues from their parents. There were 16 dyads (PTSD n=11, TD n=5) undergoing a vicarious fear extinction paradigm. We used cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) to assess SCR and HRV synchrony between parent-child dyads. We then used a linear model looking at group differences between PTSD dyads and typically developing (TD) dyads. For SCR, we saw a significant group difference (p=.037) indicating that TD dyads had higher SCR synchrony compared to PTSD dyads. For HRV, there were no group differences between PTSD and TD dyads (p=.325). These results suggest that SCR synchrony, but not HRV, may be a potential mechanism that allows for fear and safety learning in youth. While this is preliminary, it may give the first insights on how therapies such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy critically rely on parental coaching to model appropriate fear responses to help their child to recover from trauma.

Efficacy of CO-OP Approach With and Without Parental Coaching: RCT Study Protocol

Background. Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) leads to decreased occupational performance and restricted participation. Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance Approach (CO-OP) is effective, and as parental support is a key element, it seems relevant to investigate. Purpose. To describe a study protocol that will compare CO-OP with and without Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) on activity and participation of children with DCD. Method. Randomized controlled with seven to 12-year-olds, assigned to either experimental (CO-OP+OPC) or control (CO-OP) group, both receiving traditional CO-OP, with four additional parental group sessions for the experimental group. Key Issues. Actual and perceived occupational performance and satisfaction of children’s chosen goals and participation, motor performance and executive function. Measures will be obtained at baseline, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Implications. Detailed description of an intervention protocol may help further replication and may contribute to clarify if a boost on parents’ participation promotes better outcomes for children with DCD. Trial registration. Clinical Trials, NCT02893852. ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02893852 )

Experiences From a Coaching Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Developed Through Experienced-Based Co-Design (EBCD)

Many children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have difficulties reaching the national treatment goal for HbA1c (long-term blood sugar) which is associated with increased risk for complications. This makes it important to explore what patients and their caregivers describe important in coping with everyday life. The study has been conducted within a pediatric diabetes team in the south of Sweden. The aim was to explore how Experienced-Based Co-Design (EBCD) can be used to identify, test, and evaluate improvement efforts in order to support the family with a child with T1D. A modified variant of EBCD based on focus groups, workshops, and interviews with stakeholders was used. The improvement proposal parental coaching was tested and was appreciated by the participants. The qualitative content analysis of the interviews showed that the coaching program contributed to better confidence and self-efficacy. Both coaches and coachees described that the coaching contributed to better competence and a feeling of hope after attending the coach program. Experienced-Based Co-Design gave an opportunity to explore what´s important to improve, based on experiences and needs of several stakeholders.

INDIVIDUAL PARENTAL COACHING - A SUPPORT FOR PARENTS

Parents are usually entering the significant role of parenthood without any designated manual or training, apart from the parental modeling they have experienced in their own childhood home. Yet, the responsibility for raising happy and well-adjusted children lays on the parents' shoulders. The parental task becomes even more demanding during the tension saturated years of adolescence, when parents tend to feel lost, bewildered, and lose the easy-going communication they had with their children, especially in the challenging post-modern era. In order to establish 'good enough' parenting, which is based on a coherent and consistent agenda, parents should be given the opportunity to set out on a journey of familiarity with their own 'self,' their values as individuals, their beliefs, strengths and weaknesses, which is offered by using the Individual Parental Coaching (IPC) model. The uniqueness of the model is by placing the parents at the heart of the coaching process, relating to them as whole and complete persons, rather than as a parent designed to bare, raise, love and serve children. The model was examined with qualitative research in 2016 in Israel, and has developed to other fields since then. The results of the initial research and utterances from other parents that participated in the model in various contexts indicate that they clearly witness a significant improvement of their parental abilities, which lead to a better connection and communication with their adolescent's children.

IPC—Individual Parental Coaching —A Journey to “Value-land”

This article presents an individual parental coaching model (IPC) designed and examined for a PhD dissertation. Here we shall examine one aspect from the PhD, which explores the connection and influence that this IPC model has on the ‘teenager-parent’ relationship. Essentially, the research had two main goals, firstly to examine the possible influence of a unique parental coaching process, with respect to the parents’ ability to form better connections and communication with their adolescent children. Furthermore, it sought to validate a certain perception of parenting - the notion that a parent must first establish a firm sense of “self” before taking part in parenting, thus self-definition, purpose and meaning, are the individual’s significant guidelines when establishing relations with others, especially the demanding relations with teenagers. This was a qualitative narrative piece of research, since the parents’ life stories, as perceived and related by them, were at the core of this research. Seven Israeli families participated; heterosexual married couples who had raised at least one teenager between the ages of 13 to 18. The parents took an active part in a comprehensive coaching process consisting of ten weekly sessions. While the teenagers took part in an indirect manner, by filling out questionnaires. The data collected during the coaching sessions and open interviews were analyzed using the “Theme Analysis” method. This revealed some prominent individual and parental issues that contemporary Israeli parents had to deal with. The results indicated the following central findings, apart from the parent’s appreciation of the opportunity to enter a deep process of ‘self-encounter’, resulting in great benefits despite the challenges along the way. The finding’s below address both the research question itself and the explicit change process in the communication and connection between the parents and their teenagers from both perspectives. Improvements included spending more time together, less anger and friction, more patience and tolerance, better awareness to discourse style and word choices plus an overall improvement in the atmosphere at home. All the participating parents without exception stated that it was a worthy journey, which they would recommend to all parents to experience.