PURPOSE: To determine what is known from the literature about nursing care of psychiatric patients with a history of child maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric nurses underline the importance of a routine inquiry of child abuse on admission of patients to psychiatric care, but are reluctant to ask about child abuse. They often feel insufficiently competent to respond effectively to patients with a history of child maltreatment. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Psychiatric nurses need training in how to assess a history of child abuse and the late-life consequences of abuse in adult psychiatric patients. They also need to be trained to respond effectively to these patients.
DOCUMENT
Background: More knowledge about characteristics of children and adolescents who need intensive levels of psychiatric treatment is important to improve treatment approaches. These characteristics were investigated in those who need youth Assertive Community Treatment (youth-ACT). Method: A cross-sectional study among children/adolescents and their parents treated in either a regular outpatient clinic or a youth-ACT setting in a specialized mental health treatment center in the Netherlands. Results: Child, parent and family/social context factors were associated with treatment intensification from regular outpatient care to youth-ACT. The combination of the child, parent, and family/social context factors adds substantially to the predictive power of the model (Nagelkerke R2 increasing from 36 to 45% for the three domains separately, to 61% when all domains are combined). The strongest predictors are the severity of psychiatric disorders of the child, parental stress, and domestic violence. Conclusions: Using a wide variety of variables that are potentially associated with treatment intensification from regular outpatient clinic to youth-ACT, we constructed a regression model illustrating a relatively strong relation between the predictor variables and the outcome (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.61), with three strong predictors, i.e. severity of psychiatric disorders of the child, parental stress, and domestic violence. This emphasizes the importance of a system-oriented approach with primary attention for problem solving and stress reduction within the system, in addition to the psychiatric treatment of the child, and possibly also the parents. Auteurs: Vijverberg, R., Ferdinand, R., Beekman, A., & van Meijel B.
LINK
The objective was to study the prevalence of eighteen geriatric conditions in older patients at admission, their reporting rate in discharge summaries and the impact of these conditions on mortality and functional decline one year after admission. A prospective multicenter cohort study conducted between 2006 and 2008 in two tertiary university teaching hospitals and one regional teaching hospital in the Netherlands. Patients of 65 years and older, acutely admitted and hospitalized for at least 48 hours, were invited to participate. Eighteen geriatric conditions were assessed at hospital admission, and outcomes (mortality, functional decline) were assessed one year after admission.
DOCUMENT
Background Parenting a child with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities has great implications. Parents generally rely heavily on healthcare and social welfare services in caring for the child at home. Previous studies indicated mismatch between what parents need to preserve family and personal wellbeing and what is typically provided by services. This study focused on the role of healthcare and social welfare services in childcare and aims to contribute to understanding how parents perceive their interactions with service providers. Methods We interviewed 25 Dutch parents who cared for their child at home. Data were analysed using Framework Method. Findings Two overarching themes were found: “Being the lifeline” addressed that parents had central roles in fragmented services, and “Losing ownership” highlighted that parents were constrained in living life according to own beliefs and values while interacting with providers. Conclusions Findings illuminated that many parents became overburdened and compromised heavily on agency over family thriving due to functioning of healthcare and social welfare services. Findings supported working with integrated family case managers, creating effective and proactive access to equipment and services, and enacting high quality facilities for help with childcare and respite. These are important conditions to enable parents to construct family life more autonomously and make their further contribution to society. This may also lead to improved connotations of dependence on healthcare and social welfare services.
MULTIFILE
Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multisystemic, autosomal dominant connective tissue disorder that occurs de novo in 25%. In many families, parent and child(ren) are affected, which may increase distress in parents. To assess distress, 42 mothers (29% MFS) and 25 fathers (60% MFS) of 43 affected children, completed the validated screening‐questionnaire Distress thermometer for parents of a chronically ill child, including questions on overall distress (score 0–10; ≥4 denoting “clinical distress”) and everyday problems (score 0–36). Data were compared to 1,134 control‐group‐parents of healthy children. Mothers reported significantly less overall distress (2, 1–4 vs. 3, 1–6; p = .049; r = −.07) and total everyday problems (3, 0–6 vs. 4, 1–8; p = .03; r = −.08) compared to control‐group‐mothers. Mothers without MFS reported significantly less overall distress compared to mothers with MFS, both of a child with MFS (1, 0–4 vs. 3.5, 2–5; p = .039; r = −.17). No significant differences were found between the father‐groups, nor between the group of healthy parents of an affected child living together with an affected partner compared to control‐group‐parents. No differences in percentages of clinical distress were reported between mothers and control‐group‐mothers (33 vs. 42%); fathers and control‐group‐fathers (28 vs. 32%); nor between the other groups. Distress was not associated with the children's MFS characteristics. Concluding, parents of a child with MFS did not show more clinical distress compared to parents of healthy children. However, clinical distress was reported in approximately one‐third and may increase in case of acute medical complications. We advise monitoring distress in parents of a child with MFS to provide targeted support.
DOCUMENT
Integrating knowledge and expertise from designers and scientists proposes solutions to complex problems in a flexible and open-minded way. However, little insight is available in how this collaboration works. Therefore, we reflected on a research project aimed at supportive care interventions for child oncology, and detected barriers and enablers for effective designer scientist collaboration. We interviewed medical scientists (n=2), designers (n=5), health care professionals (n=2), design students (n=3), and one design innovation-expert. Enablers appeared a receptive attitude towards innovation, and shared terminology facilitated by participatory design tools, internal communication means, and common goals. Largest barrier was unstable team membership. Future collaborative research projects might benefit when preventing barriers and stimulating enablers.
DOCUMENT
BACKGROUND: Rapid technological development has been opening new possibilities for children with disabilities. In particular, robots can enable and create new opportunities in therapy, rehabilitation, education, or leisure. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to share experiences, challenges and learned lessons by the authors, all of them with experience conducting research in the field of robotics for children with disabilities, and to propose future directions for research and development. METHODS: The article is the result of several consensus meetings to establish future research priorities in this field. CONCLUSIONS: This article outlines a research agenda for the future of robotics in childcare and supports the establishment of R4C – Robots for Children, a network of experts aimed at sharing ideas, promoting innovative research, and developing good practices on the use of robots for children with disabilities. RESULTS: Robots have a huge potential to support children with disabilities: they can play the role of a play buddy, of a mediator when interacting with other children or adults, they can promote social interaction, and transfer children from the role of a spectator of the surrounding world to the role of an active participant. To fulfill their potential, robots have to be “smart”, stable and reliable, easy to use and program, and give the just-right amount of support adapted to the needs of the child. Interdisciplinary collaboration combined with user centered design is necessary to make robotic applications successful. Furthermore, real-life contexts to test and implement robotic interventions are essential to refine them according to real needs.
DOCUMENT
This thesis focuses on the effectiveness of a family-centered approach (in Dutch “DMOprotocol”, further referred to as the family-centered approach), designed for monitoring and enhancing children’s social-emotional development in Preventive Child Healthcare (PCH). The effectiveness study took place at a Dutch PCH organization (Icare JGZ). In a quasi-experimental design, regions in which the family-centered approach had already been implemented (northern and southeastern part of Drenthe) were compared to regions in which care-as-usual had been maintained (northern part of Overijssel). The aim was to assess the added value of the family-centered approach from different perspectives. Therefore several research questions were answered in analyses that arereported in different chapters of this thesis.
MULTIFILE
Parents have a vital influence on the participation of their child with a physical disability. The aim of this study is to gain insight into parents’ own daily actions, challenges, and needs while supporting their child with a physical disability at home, at school, and in the community. An additional objective of this study is to refine the preliminary thematic framework previously identified in a scoping review.
DOCUMENT
The unexpected death of a child is one of the most challenging losses as it fractures survivors’ sense of parenthood and other layers of identity. Given that not all the bereaved parents who have need for support respond well to available treatments and that many have little access to further intervention or follow-up over time, online interventions featuring therapeutic writing and peer support have strong potential. In this article we explore how a group of bereaved mothers experienced the process of participating in an online course in therapeutic writing for the integration of grief. Our research questions were: How do parents who have lost a child experience being part of an online course in therapeutic writing? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of writing in processing their grief? We followed an existential phenomenological approach and analyzed fieldwork notes (n = 13), qualitative data from the application and assessment surveys (n = 35; n = 21), excerpts from the journals of some participants (n = 3), and email correspondence with some participants (n = 5). We categorized the results in three meaning units: (1) where does my story begin? The “both and” of their silent chaos; (2) standing on the middle line: a pregnancy that does not end; (3) closures and openings: “careful optimism” and the need for community support. Participants experienced writing as an opportunity for self-exploration regarding their identities and their emotional world, as well as a means to develop and strengthen a bond with their children. They also experienced a sense of belonging, validation, and acceptance in the online group in a way that helped them make sense of their suffering. Online writing courses could be of benefit for bereaved parents who are grieving the unexpected death of a child, but do not replace other interventions such as psychotherapy. In addition to trauma and attachment informed models of grief, identity informed models with a developmental focus might enhance the impact of both low-threshold community interventions and more intensive clinical ones. Further studies and theoretical development in the area are needed, addressing dialogical notions such as the multivoicedness of the self. Lehmann OV, Neimeyer RA, Thimm J, Hjeltnes A, Lengelle R and Kalstad TG (2022) Experiences of Norwegian Mothers Attending an Online Course of Therapeutic Writing Following the Unexpected Death of a Child. Front. Psychol. 12:809848. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.809848
DOCUMENT
