Neuroticism as a moderator of symptom-related distress and depression in 4 noncancer end-of-life populations.

Objectives: Neuroticism is a significant predictor of adverse psychological outcomes in patients with cancer. Less is known about how this relationship manifests in those with noncancer illness at the end-of-life (EOL). The objective of this study was to examine the impact of neuroticism as a moderator of physical symptoms and development of depression in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and frailty in the last 6 months of life.

Longitudinal Mixed Modelling of Emergency Department Use Among a Sample of Homeless Participants in a Housing First Demonstration Trial.

The present Canadian study sought to identify predictors of emergency department (ED) use in a sample of adults who are homeless. Four hundred eighty-three participants were interviewed quarterly for two years, reporting their housing status, income, food security, physical/mental health, and other social determinants of health. Survey data were linked to administrative health and social services data.

Fixed Nodes of Transience: Narratives of Homelessness and Emergency Department Use.

Discourse in popular media, public policy, and academic literature contends that people who are homeless frequently make inappropriate use of hospital emergency department (ED) services. Although researchers have investigated the ED experiences of people who are homeless, no previous studies have examined how this population understands the role of the ED in their health care and in their day-to-day lives. In the present study, 16 individuals participated in semistructured interviews regarding their ED experiences, and narrative analysis was applied to their responses.

Negotiating home base: Narratives of psychological well-being among female military members.

The current study aimed to understand how active duty service women with low levels of current psychological distress make sense of their military experiences in ways that might contribute to psychological well-being. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with active duty female members in the Canadian Forces and transcripts were analyzed using narrative analysis. A sense of belonging was found to be of utmost salience to the women, with several participants negotiating and constructing places that felt like home to them, and with different degrees of attachment to the military versus civilian world.

Information Needs and Preferences of Parents Considering Treatment of Child Anxiety.

Objective: To assess the information needs and preferences of parents who were making decisions concerning treatment for their child's anxiety.

Methods: Ninety-three parents were recruited from hospital-based clinics, a parent group, and a public information meeting. They completed a survey about preference for decision-making involvement, information needs, and preferences concerning source and amount of information.

Men, fire, and burns: Stories of fighting, healing, and emotions.

Burn recovery is a difficult process full of physical and psychological challenges. With increasing survival rates, there has been renewed interest in the psychological aspects of burn recovery. As men represent over 70% of all burn patients, it is particularly important to study how men experience and interpret this process.

Protective factors for mental disorders and psychological distress in female, compared with male, service members in a representative sample.

Objective: Although military interest in promoting psychological resilience is growing, resources protective against psychopathology have been understudied in female service members. Using a representative sample of Canadian Forces personnel, we investigated whether religious attendance, spirituality, coping, and social support were related to mental disorders and psychological distress in female service members, and whether sex differences occurred in these associations.

Method: Religious attendance and spirituality were self-reported.

"Put on your face to face the world": women's narratives of burn injury.

The survival rate of individuals with burn injury has significantly increased due to medical advances in burn care. This has led to a need to focus on psychological aspects of burn injury recovery, particularly on how people come to terms with their changed bodies. The literature suggests that burn size and severity are not directly associated with the degree of distress but that subjective perceptions and interpretations - of, for instance, body image - are pertinent.

Parental perceptions of family adjustment in childhood developmental disabilities.

Based on the adjustment phase of the double ABC-X model of family stress (McCubbin and Patterson, 1983) this study examined the impact of parenting stress, positive appraisal of the impact of child disability on the family, and parental self-esteem on parental perceptions of family adjustment in families of children with disabilities. For mothers, self-esteem and positive appraisal predicted maternal-perceived family adjustment and mediated the relationship between parenting stress and family adjustment. For fathers, while self-esteem and positive appraisal were not significant in directly predicting perceived family adjustment, self-esteem moderated the relationship between parenting stress and family adjustment.

Listening to parents: the challenges of parenting kindergarten-aged children who are anxious.

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the experience of parenting kindergarten-aged children who are anxious. Twenty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of kindergarten-aged children who expressed interest in a parent-focused early intervention program for child anxiety offered in a local elementary school. Key concerns of the parents included their children's separation anxiety, social anxiety, and oppositional behaviour.

The high risk of IPV against Canadian women with disabilities.

Background: Mounting evidence suggests that women with disabilities have a particularly high risk of experiencing violence by an intimate partner. This study examined the elevated risk for male-female intimate partner violence (IPV) against women with disabilities compared to women without disabilities across three large-scale Canadian surveys. An explanatory framework was tested that organized risk markers based on whether they referred to the context of the relationship between the couple (relationship factors), the victim (victim-related characteristics), or the perpetrator (perpetrator-related characteristics).

The elevated risk for non-lethal post-separation violence in Canada: a comparison of separated, divorced, and married women.

The purpose of the study was to shed light on the potentially differing dynamics of violence against separated and divorced women by their ex-husbands and violence against married women by their current husbands. Using a nationally representative sample of 7,369 heterosexual women from Cycle 13 of Statistics Canada's General Social Survey, available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Separated women reported nine times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported about four times the prevalence of violence compared with married women.

Parental appraisal of the family impact of childhood developmental disability: times of sadness and times of joy.

Background: Parental positive and negative appraisals of the family impact of childhood disability are tested as early predictors of parental self-esteem and overall family adjustment in households with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Method: Within 103 Canadian families, 103 mothers and 55 fathers independently completed interviews in their home at two time points: 6 months after their child entered childhood disability services (T1), and one year later (T2).

Results: Longer-term family adjustment was found to be predicted by level of parental negative appraisal of the family impact of disability, and by level of self-esteem, for both mothers and fathers.

Family adjustment to childhood developmental disability: a measure of parent appraisal of family impacts.

Objective: To develop the Family Impact of Childhood Disability Scale (FICD) to assess subjective interpretation or "primary appraisal" of parents regarding the impact of a child with developmental disabilities on the family.

Method: A random sample of 87 families was assessed while children with developmental disabilities were in the preschool years. After 7 years had elapsed, 64 of these families were interviewed again when the children were in the preteen years.