Changes in parental depression symptoms during family preservation services

Objectives

Parental depression symptoms often change over the course of child welfare family preservation and parenting services. This raises the question of whether certain processes in family preservation services might be associated with depression symptom change. This study tests three correlational models of change among family preservation service participants: (a) changes in depression symptoms are one facet of broad general changes in wellbeing; (b) the quality of the home visitor-client relationship is associated depression symptom changes; and (c) linking parents to adjunctive services is associated with symptom changes.

Methods

Participants were 2,175 parents in family preservation services, largely for child neglect, who were surveyed using standard measures at pre-treatment, post-treatment and 6 month follow-up. Change patterns were evaluated using growth models, including bivariate parallel and multivariate second-order models.

Results

Parallel growth was noted among depression symptoms and changes in social, economic, familial, and parenting domains. A second order change model positing a global change pattern fit the data well. Working alliance had a modest association with improvement, but successful linkage to outside mental health services was not associated with improvement.

Conclusions

Changes in diverse indicators of wellbeing follow a global pattern which might support use of less complex rather than more fully comprehensive service plans. Findings about lack of adjunctive usual care mental health service benefit may be related to uncontrolled factors and this is a topic in need of additional study.     

抑郁情绪来访者的案例概念化个案研究

通过对一例抑郁情绪来访者的案例概念化咨询,检视案例概念化对于抑郁情绪来访者的干预效果。应用Blackburn,James和Flitcroft提出的压力特异质模型制订一例抑郁情绪认知行为咨询的案例概念化咨询方案。按照案例概念化流程和要求将个案内容以模式图形式呈现给来访者,并根据每一部分具体问题按照相对应咨询方法进行干预。综合评价结果显示,来访者抑郁情绪减轻,生活向积极方向转化。     

Early education teachers’ conceptualizations and strategies for managing closeness with the class in child care

This study investigated teachers’ experiences of closeness during interactions with the group of children in child care. Structured interviews were conducted with 24 female teachers who were teaching children between the ages of three and five (mean age = 3.9) regarding their perceptions of closeness with the group of children in the class. Qualitative analyses of the interviews revealed a group solidarity domain of teacher–group relationships composed of three dimensions which comprise emotional solidarity, consensual solidarity, and functional solidarity, with emotional solidarity most dominant in the teachers’ perceptions. This group solidarity domain was interpreted as being consistent with qualities found in Grusec and Davidov’s group participation domain. The findings that, teachers’ closeness with the group of children in the class were dominated by the emotional dimension is similar to previous research results which report the predominance of personal and intimate interactions in relational closeness between teachers and individual children. Teachers described intentional strategies for managing close group relationships that made use of interactional histories between the teachers and children in the class. These discoveries provide a new perspective on teacher closeness with groups, an area of research not often investigated. It also provides insights into the importance teachers place on connecting emotionally with children when they are with the collective group in the classroom.     

Depressive Stories for Children

While stories with a depressing message are now common for teenagers, resistance to them remains where smaller children are concerned. But is this more a case of the publishers and providers concerned protecting their own particular image of childhood? This article looks at the case for books that also convey a sense of sadness to infants, starting with the stories of Hans Andersen and ending with some of the challenging picture books published more recently.     

大学生的抑郁特点及其与自尊的关系

本研究采用流调中心用抑郁量表(CES一D)、Rosenberg自尊量表(SES)对大一至大四的782名大学生进行调查,结果表明:大学生中,不同程度的抑郁检出率较高;不同性别、不同出生地、不同专业的大学生抑郁状况没有显著差异;不同年级的被试抑郁状况有显著差异;抑郁总分及抑郁状态的各个侧面均与自尊有非常显著的负相关。     

论抑郁症的治疗

抑郁症是一种影响范围较广的常见的心理疾病 ,且有随着社会发展逐渐增加的趋势。抑郁症有生理和心理上的表现 ,有内在和外在的原因 ,可以通过物理疗法、药物和心理疗法等对抑郁症进行治疗。     

Reciprocity between infants and cargivers during the first year of life

Infants interact reciprocally with their caregivers from the moment of birth. The actions of one affect the other in a manner that resembles an intricate dance. The article proposes a sociocultural model of reciprocity that focuses on the interdependent relationship between infants and their caregivers. Relevant variables include the age, sex, developmental history, and behavioral style of the infant and the caregiver's knowledge of infants' development, level of experience and education, disciplinary style, and temperament. Further, the influence of families and cultural expectations on caregiving practices are discussed within the framework of the model. After a review of the literature, selected activities are suggested to promote infants' interaction with their social world.     

Caregivers of quality: One mother's search for child care

Too often, guidelines for quality child care emphasize the physical site, the equipment, safety, and the staff-child ratio. However, to ensure high-quality child care for our children, the personal and professional attributes of quality caregivers must be considered. The most important caregiver attributes are discussed, as one mother describes her search for child care.     

Sonya Hartnett's Thursday's Child: Readings

Sonya Hartnett's Thursday's Child was published in Australia by Penguin Books in 2000. Editions are available in the UK (Walker Books, 2002), the USA (Candlewick, 2002), as well as in Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Denmark. In 2002, the book was awarded the Guardian's Children's Fiction Prize in the UK. Like Harper, the narrator of the novel, Sonya Hartnett began to write early—her first book, Trouble All the Way, was written when she was 13 and published 2 years later. It seems that adults read Thursday's Child and talk about it without any reference to young readers; we see it as one of those books you read and immediately look for someone to discuss it with. And then go back to the book to reread. It's one of those novels that, like many poems, offers multiple readings and the reader may be content to accept several of them. The UK editors of this journal wanted to bring this intriguing novel to the notice of readers who may not yet have discovered it, and, we felt sure, those who already knew the book would welcome two close readings to set alongside their own. We invited Judith Armstrong to begin the discussion. Then David Rudd, with the benefit of Judith's insights, adds his exploration of the novel. Between the two essays, we have included some comments, extracted from a taped conversation, of two 14-year-old readers. This article comprises two sustained responses to Sonya Hartnett's award-winning novel, Thursday's Child. Both essays explore multiple readings of a complex and intriguing text. Set in the Great Depression in Australia, the novel is seen as at once realistic, mythic, and even fantastic. Judith Armstrong considers Tin, the subject of the title, as a feral child and examines his influence on the other members of his family. As he tunnels through the earth, so does the narrator Harper (Tin's older sister) “dig” with her pen. Their excavations leave both children forever marked by the bleak and sometimes violent events recorded in the book. David Rudd continues the discussion, finding Freud's exploration of “the uncanny” and J. M. Barrie's character, Peter Pan, illuminating in his reading of the novel. He also asks how far Harper can be trusted as narrator: can we even be certain that her brother survived a mudslide that occurred early in the story?     

Effects of childhood multiple maltreatment experiences on depression of socioeconomic disadvantaged elderly in Brazil

Childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for depression in nonelderly individuals. We investigated the effect of childhood abuse and neglect on the development of geriatric depression and its severity in socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. A cross-sectional study investigated 449 individuals aged 60–103 years sorted by data using the enrollment list health coverage from the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The fifteen-item Geriatric Depression Scale was used to assess depression. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to identify emotional and physical neglect, in addition to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Geriatric depression was associated with emotional and physical abuse and neglect. Emotional abuse and neglect, as well as physical abuse, increased the odds of an individual developing severe depression. Correlations were observed for combined forms of maltreatment, with two to five maltreatment types producing mild to moderate symptoms. Similar trends were observed for severe symptoms in a limited number of cases. The cross-sectional design limit causal inference. Retrospective measurement of childhood maltreatment may increase recall and response bias. Late-life depression and its severity significantly correlated with the extent of childhood emotional and physical abuse and neglect. Thus, research should focus on supporting trauma survivors late in life, particularly when they come from low or middle income countries because these patients have higher rates of depression in elderly populations.