Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Eiser.
Interviews were conducted with 60 primiparous women about their experiences of labour and delivery, and education about child care received on the postnatal ward. The results indicated that many had misgivings and unanswered questions about their labour and delivery. Teaching of child care was apparently unsystematic. It is concluded that many opportunities for educating women about child care are lost on the postnatal ward.
Subjects at four age-levels (7 years, 11 years, 14 years, adults) were asked to complete sentences of the type 'my heart is like . . .'. Seven examples were given (heart, lungs, brain, body, germs, blood and stomach). There was a decline with age in the number of subjects using shape and colour as the basis for these analogies, and an increase with age in subjects using analogies that describe functions. The data are discussed in terms of their implications for explaining illness to sick children. It is argued that explanations involving functional analogies may be less readily understood than previously supposed.
Forty-nine children with asthma (aged 7-16 years) completed a questionnaire concerned with (1) general knowledge about the body and how it works, and (2) specific knowledge about the cause and prognosis of asthma, knowledge of allergens and self-care behaviours. Compared with a matched group of healthy children, they were less well-informed about general knowledge of the body. Knowledge of asthma was also poor. Few children made any specific attempts to avoid situations known to precipitate attacks. There was no significant increase with age in knowledge of allergens or awareness of how to control attacks. The results indicate a need to make asthmatic children more aware of their illness, particularly with regard to self-care.
In a first study, 90 children (aged 3-5 years) were shown a photograph of a hospital scene, and then asked to identify which of 12 separate items were present in the original scene. Children made more plausible than implausible errors, suggesting that they had well-organized schemata for hospital scenes. In a second study, we investigated children's knowledge of hospital-related routines and activities. A total of 152 children (aged 3-5, 6-8 and 9-10 years) were shown five photographs of hospital and five photographs of school, and asked to arrange each set to 'tell a story'. Children in different age groups showed relatively high agreement in their orderings, and also in selecting the 'most important photograph'. The data suggest that children's knowledge of hospital is organized around rudimentary schemata and scripts, which enable them to make very plausible inferences about hospital scenes and activities.
Mothers of 19 children (mean age = 8.8 years) with spina bifida were interviewed about medical and psychological services available, school placement and restrictions experienced by their children in school and social activities. Mothers also rated their own confidence to care for the child, perceived social support and difficulties experienced by the family. In addition, a measure of the child's disability status was derived. Mothers whose child scored higher in terms of disability reported greater everyday difficulties. In addition, mothers' confidence was related to perceived social support. Mothers reported regular use of medical services but little reliance on specialized nursing or psychological services.
A total of 21 healthy siblings were interviewed about their experiences when a brother or sister is diagnosed with cancer. Information about the illness, opinions about who should inform siblings, social support, specific worries and worst memories were studied, as well as perceptions of any differences in the way they were treated by their parents. A short General Impact Scale was developed to assess the extent to which the siblings felt their lives had been disrupted by the illness. Results on these measures were compared with scores on four dimensions of the Sibling Perception Questionnaire (Carpenter & Sahler 1991). Siblings who reported some positive effects as a consequence of the illness (they had become more empathic toward others, or valued life more) perceived their interpersonal relations to be more negatively affected, i.e. there were greater difficulties in their relationships with others especially their parents. Higher scores on communication were related to less of an impact of the illness on life generally. However, these siblings also reported heightened concerns that their brother or sister might die. The data suggested that siblings should have opportunities to talk about implications of the disease, especially worries about death, and more efforts should be made to prepare siblings for visits to hospital and seeing the sick child.
Sixty-two mothers and 45 fathers of children with diabetes completed questionnaires to assess their confidence to manage the disease and treatment. Implications of parental confidence for attitudes to (1) child-rearing, (2) coping and (3) perceived restrictions of the disease were considered. Mothers and fathers differed in reported child-rearing behaviours and strategies for coping. More confident fathers reported that information was helpful in coping with the disease, while more confident mothers reported that support from the family was more helpful. Predictors of children's locus of control scores differed between mothers and fathers. However, children expressed more external locus of control beliefs where parents believed their children to be more restricted.