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Biomedical subjects

G Affleck

Publications and source records attributed to G Affleck.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Mothers' remembrances of newborn intensive care: a predictive study.

Six months after discharge, 94 mothers described their memories of their infant's hospitalization on an NICU. Mothers of sicker infants, those who had claimed difficulties with NICU staff, and those who felt less attached to their infant more often described painful reminders of this crisis. Pleasurable reminders were reported more often by mothers who had perceived greater personal control over their infant's recovery and had construed a purpose in this crisis. Mothers described several benefits of their memories and were more likely to do so when they had perceived a purpose in their misfortune.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Effects of formal support on mothers' adaptation to the hospital-to-home transition of high-risk infants: the benefits and costs of helping.

94 mothers were randomly assigned to a control group or to a group who received a formal support program designed to aid their adaptation to the transition from hospital to home care of high-risk infants. Mothers' predischarge need for support and the severity of infants' predischarge medical problems moderated program effects assessed 6 months after NICU discharge. Positive effects of the program on mothers' sense of competence, perceived control, and responsiveness were evident for mothers who had needed the most support. But at low levels of need for support, participation in the program had negative effects on these outcomes. A similar pattern was found for the effects of the program on mothers' positive mood as a function of the severity of infants' medical problems. Secondary findings suggest why some mothers may benefit from formal support after NICU discharge and others may experience at least temporary disruptions in their adaptation from such support.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1988

Adaptational features of mothers' risk and prevention appraisals after the birth of high-risk infants.

Sixty-seven mothers were interviewed at the time of their child's discharge from a newborn intensive care unit and 6 months after hospital discharge. After 6 months, mothers who had done more to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes, had been more optimistic about the outcomes of their pregnancy, and saw their infant's complications as more avoidable reported greater concurrent mood disturbance and/or more distress ensuing from their child's hospitalization. Mothers' risk and prevention appraisals also played a role in their attitudes toward future childbearing, independent of mothers' reproductive history, the severity of the infants' medical condition, and the infant's behavioral difficulty at 6 months. The single most important predictor of mothers' expectations of future pregnancies, however, was whether the child was first born.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Attributional processes in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

In a study of 92 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, we examined patients' beliefs about the causes of their illness, disease flares, and disease remissions, and about the selective incidence of the disease. Numerous self-report measures were used to elucidate the patients' attitudes and perceptions; the tendency of patients to present themselves in socially desirable ways was taken into account and was found not to influence the study results. The causes for the illness that were most frequently cited by patients were heredity (34.7%), autoimmune factor (24.4%), personal behaviors (22.8%), and psychological stress (22.8%). Patients who were more actively searching for the causes of the illness and who continued to ask "Why me?" reported greater functional problems and a greater sense of helplessness. The most frequently cited causes for symptom flares were psychological stress (45.5%), changes in weather (34.0%), and excessive physical activity (34.1%). Symptom remissions were most frequently believed to be related to medication changes (49.4%) and the absence of psychological stress (21.0%). Several of these causal beliefs were related to perceptions of helplessness and the illness' predictability and to health care providers' assessments of disease severity and patients' psychosocial adjustment.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Appraisals of control and predictability in adapting to a chronic disease.

In a sample of 92 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, we examined interrelations among various control appraisals, illness predictability, psychosocial adjustment, mood, and illness status. Perceiving greater personal control over the disease and symptoms and perceiving greater health-care-provider control over symptoms were associated with greater illness predictability. Patients reported more personal control over their symptoms than over the course of the disease and thought that their health care providers had more control over disease course than they did themselves. Multiple regression analyses showed that perceiving greater personal control over one's medical care and treatment was associated with positive mood and psychosocial adjustment. Negative mood was also associated with the belief that providers have greater control over the patient's daily symptoms. Patients who had a more severe disease and expressed greater personal control over its course reported greater mood disturbance and were rated as exhibiting less positive adjustment, but those who had more severe daily symptoms and expressed greater personal control over their symptoms reported less mood disturbance. These findings are discussed in terms of the possible benefits of patients' active participation in their care and the implications of perceiving personal and others' control over more or less controllable aspects of the illness, especially when the illness is more severe.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1987

The costs and benefits of optimistic explanations and dispositional optimism.

Explanatory style and dispositional optimism have been linked to physical health. In this issue, Peterson and Seligman and Carver and Scheier review an impressive series of studies which together suggest that there may be health risks associated with attributing bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes and with failing to maintain a generalized expectancy for good outcomes. We attempt to broaden the scope of these studies by describing the situational constraints on the observed relations and by presenting evidence that there may be health risks, as well as benefits, associated with dispositional optimism and an optimistic explanatory style.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Self-blame among parents of infants with perinatal complications: the role of self-protective motives.

According to the literature on defensive attribution, behavioral self-blame can bolster a sense of personal efficacy and is more likely to occur when victims perceive their misfortune as severe. In this study, mothers of infants with severe perinatal complications rated the severity of their child's condition, were asked about its causes, and completed a measure of emotional adaptation. As predicted according to the defensive attribution hypothesis, behavioral self-blame was associated with greater perceived severity and preventability of recurrence. The pattern of correlations suggests that greater perceived severity may produce greater self-blame, which in turn may play an indirect role in adaptation through its association with the belief that a recurrence could be prevented. Results of a post hoc path analysis were consistent with this hypothesis. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive features of behavioral self-blame, its relation to perceived control, methodological issues in the study of coping with victimization, and implications for helping professionals.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Cognitive adaptations to high-risk infants: the search for mastery, meaning, and protection from future harm.

Cognitive adaptations suggesting orientations to primary or secondary control over stress were explored in a sample of 42 mothers who were interviewed shortly after discharge of their infant from a newborn intensive care unit. Mothers reported how much the infant's current recovery and future developmental status was or is dependent on personal actions and the degree to which they thought they could prevent perinatal complications in future deliveries (primary control). Also, they were asked whether there were gains or advantages from the crises of newborn intensive care and whether they had answered the question: "Why me?" (secondary control). Standard measures of mood state and stress reactions to aversive events were also administered. Results showed that each of the control cognitions was related to one or more measures of adaptational outcome. Findings were discussed in the context of theory and research on cognitive adaptations to threatening occurrences.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1984

Factors associated with parents' and professionals' perceptions of infants in an early intervention program.

Mothers and regular intervention home visitors rated temperament characteristics of 39 high risk or developmentally delayed infants (approximately 9 months corrected age). Mothers who reported greater depression rated their infants as less optimal on several temperament dimensions. Similarly, mothers who were single, less educated, or had infants showing greater developmental delay, described their infants' temperament as less satisfactory than did other mothers. These maternal variables also correlated with home visitors' ratings of infant temperament, although the number of significant correlates was fewer. Discrepancies between parent and professional reports were examined. Mothers of infants showing poorer development rated their infants more positively on activity and rhythmicity than did professionals. Higher educated mothers also tended to report higher activity levels for their infants than did the home visitors. Infant activity, as rated by home visitors, is highly correlated with infant's developmental status. Perhaps mothers of poorly developing infants and those with greater education overestimate infant activity because they have relatively greater difficulty accepting the extent of their infants' functional limitations.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Maternal and child characteristics associated with mothers' perceptions of their high risk/developmentally delayed infants.

Mothers of 46 high risk infants, many of whom were developmentally delayed, were visited in their homes at approximately 9 months post-expected-date-of-delivery. The Perception of Baby Temperament (PBT) scales and the Profile of Mood States were administered and an observation of infant, parent, and parent-infant behavior was made. Infants were most likely to receive higher PBT scores on more than one scale if their mothers were more highly educated and reported lesser degrees of depression and anxiety. Infants who were perceived as more active and approaching by their mothers tended to be rated as more responsive by the observer and to show less developmental delay. Mothers who rated their infants as more active tended to show greater responsiveness to the infant and to participate in reciprocal activities with the infant more frequently during the home visit. These findings demonstrate that mothers' perceptions of high risk/developmentally delayed infant temperament are associated with similar categories of variables found to correlate with maternal perceptions of developmentally normal infant temperament.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1982

Home environments of developmentally disabled infants as a function of parent and infant characteristics.

Variables from three categories were inspected as correlates of HOME Inventory ratings for 43 severe perinatal risk or developmentally disabled infants at 8 to 9 months post-expected date of delivery. These variables were maternal perceptions of the infant's temperament, maternal self-reported mood, and interactional characteristics of the infant as rated by a home observer. Stepwise regression analysis of HOME total scores showed that infants who were viewed by their mothers as more active and by the observer as less irritable were particularly likely to experience more optimal developmental practices in the home. Significant predictors in regression equations for various of the HOME subscales were: maternal ratings of the infant's mood, approach, adaptability, and rhythmicity; maternal self-reported depression, tension, and confusion; and infant pleasure in physical contact. The finding that homes of fathers with high occupational status were rated lower on Maternal Involvement and Emotional and Verbal Responsivity of the Mother is inconsistent with results of studies of the homes of developmentally normal children.

Behavior↗
PubMed1982

Maternal causal attributions at hospital discharge of high-risk infants.

Interviews were conducted at hospital discharge with mothers of 43 infants with severe perinatal complications posing risks to development. Information gathered included mothers' beliefs about the causes of the infant's medical problems, expectations of caretaking difficulties, and self-reported mood on the Profile of Mood States. Of the various demographic characteristics studied, only maternal parity was related to causal attributions, with mothers of later-born infants more likely to blame themselves and mothers of first-born infants more likely to blame others and to attribute the infant's condition to chance. Mothers who blamed others reported greater mood disturbance and greater anticipated caretaking problems than did mothers who attributed the infant's condition to a maternal behavior during pregnancy. These findings were discussed in relation to studies of attributional processes and coping with misfortune.

Attitude↗