Longitudinal Associations of Family Relationship Quality With Chronic Pain Incidence and Persistence Among Aging African Americans.

Objectives: This study examines how family relationships convey risk or resilience for pain outcomes for aging African Americans, and to replicate and extend analyses across 2 nationally representative studies of aging health.

Methods: African American participants in Midlife in the United States (MIDUS, N = 755) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 2,585) self-reported chronic pain status at 2006 waves and then again 10 years later. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of pain incidence and persistence explained by family, intimate partner, and parent-child strain and support, as well as average support and average strain across relationships.

The biobehavioral family model and the family relational assessment protocol: Map and GPS for family systems training.

The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) was developed and evolved as a heuristic research model to support the investigation of pathways by which family relational function impacts individual family member wellbeing and disorder. Recently, the BBFM and its related assessment approach, the Family Relational Process Assessment Protocol (FRAP), have emerged as tools for clinical practice and training. The BBFM model will be presented, along with definitions of the dimensions constructed in the model, and research evidence in support of the model.

The Impact of Caregiver Depression on Child Asthma Outcomes: Pathways and Mechanisms.

Background: Depression is common in caregivers of children with asthma and is associated with poor outcomes in their child. No prior studies have longitudinally examined caregiver depression remission as a predictor of improvement in child asthma control.

Objective: This 2-site study examined whether the proportion of time a caregiver was in depression remission predicted subsequent child asthma control at exit.

An application of the Biobehavioral Family Model: Examining the impact of maternal depression on child asthma mediated by insecure attachment and child depression.

Objective: Child asthma disparities are prevalent in socio-economically stressed single-parent families. Stress impacts childhood asthma mediated by immune and autonomic pathways, but specific family stress pathways are not well established. This study tests the hypothesis, derived from a version of the Biobehavioral Family Model, that single parent maternal depression impacts child asthma mediated by insecure attachment and child depression.

The Biobehavioral Family Model: An Evidence-Based Approach to Biopsychosocial Research, Residency Training, and Patient Care.

Engel's biopsychosocial model, based in systems theory, assumes the reciprocal influence of biological, psychological, and social factors on one another and on mental and physical health. However, the model's application to scientific study is limited by its lack of specificity, thus constraining its implementation in training and healthcare environments. The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) is one model that can facilitate specification and integration of biopsychosocial conceptualization and treatment of illness.

Multivariate Association of Child Depression and Anxiety with Asthma Outcomes.

Background: Pediatric asthma is associated with increased health services utilization, missed school days, and diminished quality of life. Children with asthma also report more frequent depressive and anxiety symptoms than children without asthma, which may further worsen asthma outcomes.

Objective: The current study investigated the relationship between depressive and anxiety symptoms and 4 asthma outcomes (asthma control, asthma severity, lung function, and asthma-related quality of life) in children (N = 205) with moderate to severe persistent asthma.

Comorbid Obesity and Depressive Symptoms in Childhood Asthma: A Harmful Synergy.

Background: Overweight/obesity (OV/OB) and depression have each been separately associated with worsened childhood asthma severity and control. Pathways by which these factors may jointly affect childhood asthma have not been elucidated.

Objective: To examine the interrelationship of OV/OB and depressive symptoms with childhood asthma and explore associated psychobiologic pathways.

The effects of caregiver depression on childhood asthma: Pathways and mechanisms.

Objective: To review the literature regarding the effects of caregiver depression on childhood asthma and integrate the findings into a multilevel model of pathways by which these effects occur to further the understanding of the complex biopsychosocial nature of childhood asthma and the key role that is played by caregiver depression.

Data Sources: PubMed was searched for articles published from 2007 to the present (10-year search), and Google Scholar was searched for articles published in 2017 and 2018 to identify the most recent publications.

Study Selections: Studies selected were recent, empirical, or meta-analytic, conducted in humans, and had specific relevance to one or more of the identified pathways.

Review of family relational stress and pediatric asthma: the value of biopsychosocial systemic models.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children. Despite dramatic advances in pharmacological treatments, asthma remains a leading public health problem, especially in socially disadvantaged minority populations. Some experts believe that this health gap is due to the failure to address the impact of stress on the disease.

Stress-related asthma and family therapy: Case study.

This paper applies the Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) of stress- related illness to the study and treatment of an adolescent with intractable asthma. The model is described, along with supportive research findings. Then a case study is presented, demonstrating how the model is clinically applied.

Effects of paternal and maternal depressive symptoms on child internalizing symptoms and asthma disease activity: mediation by interparental negativity and parenting.

This study tested a hypothesized model of the relationships among parental depressive symptoms, family process (interparental negativity and negative parenting behavior), child internalizing symptoms, and asthma disease activity. A total of 106 children with asthma, aged 7 to 17, participated with their fathers and mothers. Parental depressive symptoms were assessed by self-report.

Depressive symptoms in children with cystic fibrosis and parents and its effects on adherence to airway clearance.

Background: Little is currently known about the co-morbidity of depression and cystic fibrosis (CF) and there is currently no empirical research on the effects of depressive symptoms on adherence in children and adolescents with CF. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with CF and their parents, and determine whether depressive symptoms in the child and/or parent was associated with adherence to airway clearance. We also evaluated whether children's perceptions of relational security with a parent were associated with adherence to airway clearance.

Depressed children with asthma evidence increased airway resistance: "vagal bias" as a mechanism?

Background: Depression is prevalent in pediatric asthma, and implicated in asthma morbidity and mortality. Pathways linking stress, depression, and asthma are unknown.

Objectives: To examine, under controlled laboratory conditions, pathways by which depressive states affect airway function via autonomic dysregulation.

Antidepressant treatment of caregivers of children with asthma.

Background: Depression is common in caregivers of children with asthma and is associated with increased emergency service utilization for the child's asthma.

Objective: This pilot study examined the impact of antidepressant treatment of depressed caregivers on the caregiver's depression and the child's asthma.

Method: Eight depressed caregivers of children with asthma were given up to 6 months of algorithm-based antidepressant therapy.

Testing the Biobehavioral Family Model in pediatric asthma: pathways of effect.

This study uses a laboratory-based multiinformant, multimethod approach to test the hypothesis that a negative family emotional climate (NFEC) contributes to asthma disease severity by way of child depressive symptoms, and that parent-child relational insecurity mediates the effect. Children with asthma (n = 199; aged 7-17; 55% male) reported parental conflict, parent-child relational security, and depressive symptoms. Parent(s) reported demographics, asthma history, and symptoms.

Maternal depression and parenting in relation to child internalizing symptoms and asthma disease activity.

This study tested a hypothesized model of the relationship between maternal depression and child psychological and physical dysfunction mediated by parenting and medication adherence. A sample of 242 children with asthma, aged 7 to 17, participated with their mothers. Maternal depression was assessed by self-report, and parenting was observed during family interaction tasks.

Psychological factors affecting disease activity in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis: medical adherence as a mediator.

Purpose Of Review: It is likely that nonadherence to treatment is one mediator of the effect of psychological factors on disease activity and course of cystic fibrosis. Nonadherence is a significant problem for patients with the disease. This review assesses adherence to multiple treatment components in cystic fibrosis and identifies factors associated with poor adherence.

Where to B in dZ/dt.

The B point on the impedance cardiograph waveform corresponds to the opening of the aortic valve and is an important parameter for calculating systolic time intervals, stroke volume, and cardiac output. Identifying the location of the B point is sometimes problematic because the characteristic upstroke that serves as a marker of this point is not always apparent. Here is presented a reliable method for B point identification, based on the consistent relationship between the R to B interval (RB) and the interval between the R-wave and the peak of the dZ/dt function (RZ).

Psychiatric symptomatology and disorders in caregivers of children with asthma.

Objective: The prevalence of asthma and asthma-related mortality has increased in recent years. Data suggest an association between psychiatric symptoms in the caregiver and asthma-related hospitalizations in the child. We examined the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and disorders and their relationship to asthma-related service utilization in caregivers of children hospitalized for asthma.

Family relational factors in pediatric depression and asthma: pathways of effect.

Objective: This study tested a multilevel biobehavioral family model proposing that negative family emotional climate contributes to child depressive symptoms, which in turn contribute to asthma disease severity. Parent-child relational insecurity is proposed as a mediator.

Method: Children with asthma (N = 112; ages 7-18; 55% male) reported relational security, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Reliability and validity of the Asthma Trigger Inventory applied to a pediatric population.

Objective: To test the reliability and validity of the Asthma Trigger Inventory (ATI) applied to a pediatric population.

Method: Children with asthma (N = 272, 56% male, age 7-17) and their primary caregivers answered together an asthma trigger inventory, ATI (Ritz, Steptoe, Bobb, Harris, & Edwards, 2006) developed for adults. Cronbach's alpha, principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical regression, and correlations of the ATI subscales with skin prick tests, psychological questionnaires, and disease severity were used to assess the psychometric properties of the ATI.

Family emotional climate, depression, emotional triggering of asthma, and disease severity in pediatric asthma: examination of pathways of effect.

Objectives: (a) To assess emotional triggering of pediatric asthma and ascertain its contribution to disease morbidity and functional status; (b) to test whether negative family emotional climate (NFEQ) is associated with depressive and/or anxious symptoms and emotional triggering of asthma attacks in the child.

Method: Children with asthma (N = 272, 56% male, age 7-17) and their primary caregivers answered together an Asthma Trigger Inventory (Ritz, Steptoe, Bobb, Harris, & Edwards, 2006). Children reported on anxious (STAIC) and depressive (CDI) symptoms and on asthma-related quality of life (PAQLQ).

Association of depressive symptoms and disease activity in children with asthma: methodological and clinical implications.

Objective: This study was designed to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms in children with asthma and the association between depression and asthma activity.

Method: Children ages 7 to 17 (n = 129) were recruited from a hospital emergency department after presenting for asthma symptoms. The majority of subjects were from disadvantaged, inner city families.