Family functioning and child resilience among children with phenylketonuria.
Item
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Title
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Family functioning and child resilience among children with phenylketonuria.
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Identifier
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AAI9917633
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identifier
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9917633
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Creator
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Bornholdt, Shaune.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Vera S. Paster
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Date
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1999
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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A family systems version of Aaron Antonovsky's salutogenic model of stress management was applied in a study of 34 families of children with phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder requiring a special diet to prevent mental retardation. The model predicts that individuals who perceive their familial/social world as coherent will manage tension in ways that promote health.;Two family strengths, (1) family sense of coherence, or mothers' perception that for the family the social world is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful, and (2) family practice of regular routines, were correlated with one another and with child outcomes. A significant positive correlation was found between the two strengths. As a single predictor, mothers' perceived family sense of coherence correlated significantly and positively with measures of child psychosocial resilience and dietary adherence. Considered along with family social position, a strong predictor of adherence, sense of coherence retained significant association with measures of psychosocial resilience, and showed a trend in the predicted direction in its association with dietary adherence. As a single predictor, family practice of routines also correlated significantly and positively with child psychosocial resilience, but did not correlate significantly with dietary adherence. When considered with other variables, family practice of routines showed a trend towards association with the social skills variable.;The two family strengths were further examined in dietrelated terms in interviews of 14 mothers. Mothers' descriptions of their experience reflected their measured family sense of coherence. Good adherence was associated with maternal belief in the PKU diet as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Mothers of adherent children engaged them in diet-related activities, integrated the diet across social realms, and imbued these experiences with positive feeling. They were also better able to make use of PKU clinic support than were mothers of poorly adherent children.;Findings support the salutogenesis hypothesis that sense of coherence promotes good outcomes. Findings are also consistent with representational theories of internalization. The strength of influence of family social position on health outcome highlights the need for social outreach in this population.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
