Co-parenting in families with an imprisoned parent: A systematic review

Objectives: We explored the literature to investigate the main results of research into the practice of co-parenting in families with an imprisoned parent.Moreover, we aimed to point out the theoretical approaches used to analyze coparenting in the case of parental detention and the methods by which co-parenting is recognized and measured. Method: We used the EBSCO platform to explore the databases PsycINFO and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.First, we researched parenting OR co-parenting AND (incarcerated mother OR incarcerated father); the next search was for family AND (incarceration OR prison OR jail). Then we searched for fathers OR mothers AND (incarceration OR prison OR jail), and the final search attempt was for wives OR partners OR husbands AND (incarceration OR prison OR jail). Results: After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, we selected 14 studies for this literature review.Conclusions: The number of studies about co-parenting in families dealing with parental detention is limited. Most of what is known about the co-caregiving system or alliance and children's adjustment has come from studies of families with young children. The methodological procedures used to explore the relationships between incarcerated parents, children, and home caregivers were individually focused. What emerged from this literature review is the need to recognize the triadic nature of family relationships and therefore the need to adopt procedures that would allow us to analyze the triadic processes characterizing a family system.

425 - Incorporating young children into family caregiving for people with dementia in Taiwan

Background:Positive attitudes and appropriate knowledge about dementia are essential for the provision of suitable dementia care. Children as future voters may take on a critical role to increase community awareness and knowledge about dementia. Guided by Chinese filial piety cultural virtues, Taiwanese children are taught to respect and care for family seniors and extend this respect to other seniors. Accordingly, young children are considered part of family dementia caregiving system, despite children rarely assume formal caregiver role and not directly provide care work. However, Taiwanese children may possess stigmatized attitudes toward dementia due to a lack of proper dementia knowledge.Research Objective:This study aims to survey Taiwanese children age 9-11 years old attitudes and knowledge to the concepts of dementia.Methods:A total of 312 Taiwanese children from 8 elementary schools in the south Taiwan, aged 9-11 years old, were surveyed to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward dementia. Participants completed The Kids Insight into Dementia (KIDS), which is a 5-scale questionnaire containing three factors, “Personhood”, “Stigma”, and “Dementia Understanding”. The data was analyzed using quantitative method.Results:The results show that Taiwanese children are unfamiliar with dementia as related to brain disease (M= 3.94, SD=2.91), Taiwanese children are unfamiliar about nursing home provision of care (M=3.97, SD=2.17), Taiwanese children do not know the course of dementia disease (M=3.34, SD-1.39). Participants scored high on the question of “people with dementia have hobbies and interests” (M=4.15, SD=1.22); Participants reported that they agreed less often with stigma attached to the people with dementia, including items of “I would feel a bit scared if I met someone dementia in the street” (M=2.70, SD=1.79), ”people with dementia can be creepy” (M=2.18, SD=1.71), “It would be annoying of frustrating to spend time with someone with dementia” (M=2.15, SD=1.17), “It is unlikely that I would meet someone with dementia” (M=2.36, SD=1.27).Conclusions:Our findings suggest that Taiwanese children may express less stigmatized attitudes toward people with dementia and yet they report less understanding of concepts of personhood of people with dementia. Therefore, dementia education is necessary to increase dementia knowledge among school age children in Taiwan.

The Caregiving System Scale

According to attachment theory, the propensity of human beings to care for others is governed by an inborn caregiving behavioral system that aims to promote welfare and reduce the distress of other people through effective provision of care. However, some individuals may develop non-optimal caregiving strategies, such as anxious hyperactivation and avoidant deactivation. These two non-optimal caregiving strategies can be evaluated in adults using the Caregiving System Scale (CSS). Recent findings suggested that the factor structure of the instrument may be more complex than was intended. The present work examines in-depth the factor structure of the CSS to provide a clearer understanding of the underlying dimensions. Gender invariance and the contribution of attachment orientations to CSS scores are also examined. Findings reveal that, whereas the CSS-deactivation subscale is unidimensional, the CSS-hyperactivation subscale is better represented by two distinct yet related constructs – caregiving-related worries/doubts and intrusive/coercive caregiving. Partial strict gender invariance is supported. The contribution of attachment orientations to non-optimal caregiving strategies is consistent with theoretical expectations. Results and future research directions are discussed in the final section.

Feeling ‘like you’re on … a prison ship’ – Understanding the caregiving and attachment narratives of parents of autistic children

This study explored the caregiving and attachment relationships of parents of autistic children, analysing 16 Parent Development Interviews conducted as part of a larger project. The interviews were analysed using attachment theory–driven discourse analysis, namely, the Adult Attachment Interview and Meaning of the Child Interview methods of evaluating relational discourse for transformations of meaning with a self-protective function. A multiple case-study approach was used to build an explanatory model of the caregiving and parent–child relationships of the whole sample. The study found a high level of trauma in the parents’ early childhood that shaped the way they interpreted their child and the parent–child relationship, often undermining these parents’ intentions to form more positive relationships with their own children. An interpersonal understanding of the problems of these families is suggested, seeing difficulties as residing in relationships, maintained by a circular process of ruptures, as parent and child seek to protect themselves from the pain and shame inherent in the experience of ‘disconnection’, and the apparent failure of the parents’ hope for a better relationship with their children than they experienced as children. This may be exacerbated by commonly available autism narratives, which tend to essentialise problems, mechanise parental understanding of their children and encourage parents to experience their child as fundamentally separate, challenging the caregiving system. Clinicians supporting families with autistic children may be assisted by attending to this meaning-making process, seeking creative alternatives to help these parents realise their positive intentions that do not support a shame-based cycle.

Contribution to the Special Issue on Clinical Ethology: Educating dog owners: how owner–dog interactions can benefit from addressing the human caregiving system and dog-directed parenting styles

Dogs need to adapt to a human environment to enhance their welfare and to avoid risks of undesired dog behaviour and relinquishment. Crucial to this adaptation may be how an owner interacts with the dog. Owner–dog interactions may be influenced by the human caregiving system with regard to how care, protection and resources are provided. This narrative review discusses how a consideration of the human caregiving system can benefit owner–dog interactions. Literature suggests that the human caregiving system and parenting styles could influence owner–dog interactions. Owner–dog education may improve these interactions. However, studies on owner–dog education present mixed outcomes for the dog. Also, only a few studies address owner outcomes, indicating a gap that needs filling. It is concluded that, when intervening in owner–dog interactions, more attention should be directed to aspects of human psychology. Dog-directed parenting styles can form one strategy as to improve owner–dog interactions and dog welfare.

Evidence for a Bifactor Structure of the Caregiving Questionnaire with Individuals Involved in Different and Same-Sex Couple Relationships

Despite the Caregiving Questionnaire (CQ) being a widely used measure for the study of caregiving behavior in the context of romantic relationships, to date, few studies have focused on empirically evaluating its underlying theoretical structure. The aim of this study was to examine the factorial structure and equivalence across sex and sexual orientation of this instrument. A sample of 912 Chilean individuals currently involved in a couple relationship completed the Caregiving Questionnaire and the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale. After comparing various traditional Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)models, the results provide support for a multidimensional and hierarchical nature of a brief 16-items version of the CQ. More specifically, the analyses supported a bifactor-CFA solution composed of two global factors and four specific factors, suggesting that they add information to the caregiving construct in the context of couple relationships. Additionally, the scale showed measurement invariance across sex and sexual orientation. Finally, significant associations were found between CQ scores with measures of romantic attachment in the expected directions. Theoretical implications about the nature of the caregiving system are discussed.

Introduction

The introduction provides a brief overview of the book, describing its three major themes: (a) the mechanisms through which the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman mammals and parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humans; (b) the experiential and genetic factors that affect the development of the parental brain, with a focus on the intergenerational continuity of normal and abnormal parental behavior; and (c) an evolutionary perspective based on the fact that maternal behavior is the most basic mammalian caregiving system. It is proposed that the parental brain served as a foundation upon which natural selection acted to result in the evolution of other forms of strong prosocial behaviors in mammals, including humans.