Family Process最新文献

Deployment-related PTSD can negatively impact social functioning in veteran families. Individualized PTSD-focused therapy does not consistently lead to improved social functioning. Addressing social difficulties more directly in these families is thus important. The goal of this study was to conduct an observational pilot of the clinical effectiveness of after deployment adaptive parenting tools (ADAPT), a parenting intervention for veterans and their partners. Participants were recruited at Psychotrauma Center South Netherlands of Reinier van Arkel, an institute of psychiatric care in The Netherlands. Social functioning (family functioning, parent reported child functioning, parental attachment) was assessed at baseline, 4-month post-baseline (end-of-treatment), and 10-month post-baseline. Veteran outcomes in ADAPT were compared with outcomes for veterans undergoing treatment as usual (TAU) consisting of individualized PTSD treatment. Emotion regulation and mentalization were tested as possible mediators of effect. Results showed a direct and sustained reduction in perceived posttreatment family dysfunction in veterans, and preliminary evidence of a decrease in perceived family dysfunction in partners at 10-month post-baseline. Although veterans in both ADAPT and TAU groups received PTSD therapy and reported a reduction in PTSD symptoms, only the ADAPT group showed enhanced family functioning. No significant effects were found on child functioning and parental attachment. No mediation effects were found for emotion regulation and mentalization. Low statistical power may explain the lack of significant findings. This study provides initial evidence of ADAPT's clinical effectiveness in improving family functioning, yet future research should examine the mediating processes, preferably using longer time frames with more follow-up measurements.

This systematic review and meta-analysis of Parent Plus (PP) Program evaluation studies aimed to update a previous meta-analysis published in 2017. PP programs are systemic, solution-focused, group-based parent training interventions for the prevention and treatment of a range of child and adolescent problems. Controlled or uncontrolled, randomized or non-randomized trials involving at least 10 cases which evaluated PP programs were included in the review. PsycINFO, PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC databases were searched from January 2016 to January 2014. Risk of bias was evaluated with RoB2 and ROBINS-I. Since the last meta-analysis, the pool of PP studies has increased by 25%. This updated meta-analysis included 21 studies involving 1179 families. In controlled trials, there were significant between-group, post-intervention effect sizes for child behavior (g = 0.42 [0.25, 0.59], p < 0.001, k = 13), goal attainment (g = 1.22 [0.83, 1.60], p < 0.001, k = 9), parental satisfaction (g = 0.67 [0.36, 0.98], p < 0.001, k = 8) and parental stress (g = 0.45 [0.20, 0.71], p < 0.01, k = 10) favoring PP programs. The main limitation of the review was the risk of bias in the primary studies reviewed. This updated meta-analysis shows that PP programs are evidence-based, systemic interventions that may lead to positive outcomes for families of children with emotional and behavioral problems, post-divorce adjustment difficulties, intellectual disability, ADHD, and at risk of obesity.

Trial Registration: PROSPERO: CRD42024504594

The United States is in a foster care crisis with nearly 400,000 children in need of care and not enough foster homes to fill this need. Therefore, recruiting and retaining high-quality foster care homes is essential for the placement stability and well-being of some of our society's most vulnerable children. For foster caregivers in a couple relationship, the health of the couple and coparenting relationship may play a major role in their well-being and satisfaction, influencing their retention. Guided by existing literature and the sound house theory (Gottman and Silver 2015), the current study employs latent profile analysis to examine the interparental relationship quality of 79 different-sex foster caregiver couples, potential covariates of their interparental relationship quality, and their intent to continue fostering for the next 12 months. Three groups of foster caregiver couples emerged where (1) both partners reported high interparental relationship quality, (2) both partners reported moderate relationship quality, and (3) fathers reported moderate relationship quality and mothers reported low relationship quality. Couple and foster caregiver demographic characteristics were not associated with foster caregiver couple groups. Foster mothers in groups where foster fathers reported moderate interparental relationship quality and mothers reported low interparental relationship quality reported significantly lower intentions to continue fostering. These findings have potential implications for foster caregiver screening and expanding formal support resources to promote retention. Future research is needed with larger and generalizable samples to further assess the efficacy of couple relationship education on relationship quality and retention of foster caregiver couples.

Parenting stress is associated with negative outcomes for both parents and their children, and it may be influenced by the quality of relationships that parents had with their own parents. To enhance understanding of this intergenerational relation, the present study examined whether stability and change in depressive symptoms mediated the association between parent–adolescent relationship quality during adolescence and subsequent parenting stress almost 25 years later. Using data from all five waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) restricted dataset from the United States, the study included adolescents who were between 12 and18 years old at Wave 1 and had at least one child at Wave 5 (2016–2018; N = 4890; M_age at Wave 1 = 15.67, SD_age at Wave 1 = 1.50). A modified version of the random intercept cross-lagged model was used to account for both within- and between-person levels of depressive symptoms. Findings indicated that high levels of parent–adolescent relationship quality (with both mothers and fathers) were related to low levels of depressive symptoms that were stable over the almost 25 years of the study (between-person individual differences). In turn, low levels of depressive symptoms that were stable over time were associated with low levels of parenting stress in parenthood. Results underscore the potential long-term value of interventions that enhance parent–adolescent relationship quality in adolescence, as these could reduce enduring depressive symptoms and parenting stress in future generations.

Researchers have extensively documented the financial, social, emotional, and psychological challenges that families of incarcerated people face, and there are growing calls for programs and services to help these families confront the collateral consequences of imprisonment. This article uses data from an ethnographic study exploring how family members of people in prison constructed and leveraged communities of support to help them cope with the stressors of having an incarcerated loved one. Drawing on 8 months of observations of a support group for families of people in prison and in-depth interviews with eight participants in this support group, we present findings related to family members' perspectives on the challenges they face, their reasons for joining the support group, and the group's strengths and limitations. Based on these findings, we argue that support groups for families of incarcerated people should be facilitated by trained professionals who are well versed in the unique traumas associated with contact with the criminal legal system.

Adolescent mental health problems have increased internationally, and over one-quarter of Chinese adolescents—approximately 40 million teens—have reported significant mental health problems in recent years. This study tailored and evaluated the acceptance, uptake, and effectiveness of Connect, a brief manualized trauma-informed and attachment-based parenting program, for Mandarin-speaking families in Beijing, China. 30 parents (aged 36–50 years, M_age = 44.6, SD = 3.2; 83.3% mothers, 16.7% fathers) of youth aged 10–16 years (M_age = 13.4, SD = 1.5; 50.0% female) were enrolled in a single-arm pilot study with preprogram and postprogram assessments of youth mental health, parental functioning, and quality of parent–child relationships. Careful translation was necessary to retain program nuances and meaning, including references to Chinese idioms and poems to enhance cultural meaning. Program modifications included tailoring role plays to reflect culturally relevant domains of parent–youth conflict, direct prompting of parents in reflection exercises and discussions, and a deeper emphasis on empathy in parent–child relationships. These modifications enhanced rather than diminished core program fidelity within this cultural context. Program enrolment, attendance, retention, and parents' feedback revealed strong program acceptance and perceived cultural fit. Parents also reported significant reductions in youth internalizing and externalizing problems, youth-to-parent and parent-to-youth physical and psychological aggression, parent depressed mood, and parenting strain. The findings align with previous randomized clinical trials and implementation studies of Connect across diverse countries, contexts, and clinical populations. Replication is required with larger samples, randomized designs, and using parent and youth measures to sensitively capture the quality of parent–child relationships.

Parents caring for children with rare diseases are more impaired regarding health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental health than healthy controls and norm data. To address the research gap in psychological care for these parents, this study evaluates the effectiveness of two family-based interventions. The children affected by rare disease and their families network (CARE-FAM-NET) study is a multicenter randomized controlled 2 × 2 factorial trial for affected families with children (0–21 years). This paper focuses on evaluating the impact of two interventions, one face-to-face (CARE-FAM) and one online (WEP-CARE), on the HRQoL and mental health of parents. One thousand, one hundred sixty-eight parents participated: TAU = 291, CARE-FAM = 296, WEP-CARE = 300, and CARE-FAM + WEP-CARE combined = 281. Data were collected at four time points over a period of 18 months using standardized questionnaires. The results had to be interpreted exploratively. The results indicate that there are no clinically relevant differences in the parents' HRQoL and mental health between the treatment groups. However, time-dependent differences in the intervention effects for WEP-CARE were observed. Although the results did not show clear relevant differences between conditions, trends in improvement in HrQoL and mental health were identified. CARE-FAM shows a greater reduction in parental distress and WEP-CARE shows a greater distortion of distress, particularly at T3 and T4. Given the exploratory nature of this study, it highlights the urgent need for further confirmatory research in this area.