Anette Hauskov Graungaard

When resources get sparse: A longitudinal, qualitative study of emotions, coping and resource-creation when parenting a young child with severe disabilities

Parents who realize that their newborn child is severely disabled often experience severe physical and emotional stress. Parental well-being is essential for the care-taking of the child. It is yet not known why some cope well and others do not. The aim of this study was to explore how parents coped with parenting a disabled child and how they maintained their energy and personal resources. We explored parents’ experiences, coping and resources over a two-year period after their child was diagnosed with a severely disabling condition using a qualitative, longitudinal approach. Findings were interpreted in a theoretical framework of Lazarus and Folkman’s studies on coping and Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, as well as theories of positive illusions and benefit finding during severe adversity. We found that parents continually created and sustained their personal resources through positive cognitive reappraisals of their circumstances, the consequences of those circumstances and their coping possibilities. Nine main coping strategies were identified constituting transformative pathways in resource-creation. A theory of resource-creation is proposed as an addition to the current understanding of coping and the role of positive emotions. Coping and resources were found to be closely interrelated and portals of intervention are discussed.

Association of Maternal Self-Medication and Over-the-Counter Analgesics for Children

OBJECTIVE: Self-medication with over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics, such as paracetamol (PCM), among children and adolescents is increasing and constitutes an important public health issue internationally. Reasons for this development are unclear; parental influence is suggested. Our objective was to examine whether self-medication with OTC analgesics among school-aged children is influenced by maternal self-reported health and medicine use, taking the child’s frequency of pain into account. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted on 131 children aged 6 to 11 years and their mothers in the framework of the Demonstration Of A Study To Coordinate And Perform Human Biomonitoring On A European Scale (DEMOCOPHES) European project. Participants were selected from 1 urban and 1 rural area of Denmark, and equally distributed in age and gender. Data were collected through structured interviews with all children and self-report questionnaires for mothers regarding health, pain, and medicine use. RESULTS: After adjusting for several sociodemographic and health parameters, maternal use of OTC analgesics was significantly associated with self-medication with OTC analgesics, particularly PCM, in our population of schoolchildren, even when the child’s pain was adjusted for (odds ratio 3.00, P = .008). A clear association between child pain and OTC analgesic use was not found. Additionally, maternal health (self-rated health, chronic pain, chronic disease, daily medicine intake) did not significantly influence child use of OTC analgesics. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal self-medication with OTC analgesics is associated with self-medication of OTC analgesics, predominantly PCM, among school-aged children, perhaps more than the child’s pain. Maternal health seems of less importance. Information to parents about pain self-management is important to promote appropriate PCM use among schoolchildren.

Understanding medical symptoms: a conceptual review and analysis

The aim of this article is to present a conceptual review and analysis of symptom understanding. Subjective bodily sensations occur abundantly in the normal population and dialogues about symptoms take place in a broad range of contexts, not only in the doctor’s office. Our review of symptom understanding proceeds from an initial subliminal awareness by way of attribution of meaning and subsequent management, with and without professional involvement. We introduce theoretical perspectives from phenomenology, semiotics, social interactionism, and discourse analysis. Drew Leder’s phenomenological perspectives deal with how symptom perception occurs when any kind of altered balance brings forward a bodily attention. Corporeality is brought to explicit awareness and perceived as sensations. Jesper Hoffmeyer’s biosemiotic perspectives provide access to how signs are interpreted to attribute meaning to the bodily messages. Symptom management is then determined by the meaning of a symptom. Dorte E. Gannik’s concept “situational disease” explains how situations can be reviewed not just in terms of their potential to produce signs or symptoms, but also in terms of their capacity to contain symptoms. Disease is a social and relational phenomenon of containment, and regulating the situation where the symptoms originate implies adjusting containment. Discourse analysis, as presented by Jonathan Potter and Margaret Wetherell, provides a tool to notice the subtle ways in which language orders perceptions and how language constructs social interaction. Symptoms are situated in culture and context, and trends in modern everyday life modify symptom understanding continuously. Our analysis suggests that a symptom can only be understood by attention to the social context in which the symptom emerges and the dialogue through which it is negotiated.

Maternal pain influences her evaluation of recurrent pain in 6-to 11-year-old healthy children

Children with recurrent pain rely on their parents to acknowledge it. We compared pain reported by healthy children and their mothers, to evaluate their agreement, and also looked at the effect of maternal health on childrens pain.

International variation in programmes for assessment of children’s neurodevelopment in the community: understanding disparate approaches to evaluation of motor, social, emotional, behavioural and cognitive function

Background: Few areas of medicine demonstrate such international divergence as child development screening and surveillance. Many countries have nationally mandated surveillance policies, but the content of programmes and mechanisms for delivery vary enormously. The cost of programmes is substantial but no economic evaluations have been carried out. We have critically examined the history, underlying philosophy, content and delivery of programmes for child development assessment in five countries with comprehensive publicly funded health services (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Scotland and Sweden). The specific focus of this article is on motor, social, emotional, behavioural and global cognitive functioning including language. Findings: Variations in developmental surveillance programmes are substantially explained by historical factors and gradual evolution although Scotland has undergone radical changes in approach. No elements of universal developmental assessment programmes meet World Health Organization screening criteria, although some assessments are configured as screening activities. The roles of doctors and nurses vary greatly by country as do the timing, content and likely costs of programmes. Inter-professional communication presents challenges to all the studied health services. No programme has evidence for improved health outcomes or cost effectiveness. Conclusions: Developmental surveillance programmes vary greatly and their structure appears to be driven by historical factors as much as by evidence. Consensus should be reached about which surveillance activities constitute screening, and the predictive validity of these components needs to be established and judged against World Health Organization screening criteria. Costs and consequences of specific programmes should be assessed, and the issue of inter-professional communication about children at remediable developmental risk should be prioritised.

Women's reasons for choosing abortion method: A systematic literature review

Aims: We aim to describe and classify reasons behind women’s choice between medical and surgical abortion. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted in PubMed and PsycINFO in October 2015. The subjects were women in early pregnancy opting for abortion at clinics or hospitals in high-income countries. We extracted women’s reasons for choice of abortion method and analysed these qualitatively, looking at main reasons for choosing either medical or surgical abortion. Results: Reasons for choice of method were classified to five main groups: technical nature of the intervention, fear of complications, fear of surgery or anaesthesia, timing and sedation. Reasons for selecting medical abortion were often based on the perception of the method being ‘more natural’ and the wish to have abortion in one’s home in addition to fear of complications. Women who opted for surgical abortion appreciated the quicker process, viewed it as the safer option, and wished to avoid pain and excess bleeding. Reasons were often based on emotional reactions, previous experiences and a lack of knowledge about the procedures. Some topics such as pain or excess bleeding received little attention. Overall the quality of the studies was low, most studies were published more than 10 years ago, and the generalisability of the findings was poor. Conclusion: Women did not base their choice of abortion method only on rational information from professionals but also on emotions and especially fears. Support techniques for a more informed choice are needed. Recent high-quality studies in this area are lacking.

How can the general practitioner support adolescent children of ill or substance-abusing parents? A qualitative study among adolescents

Abstract Objectives: To explore significant experiences of adolescents as next of kin that the general practitioner (GP) should identify and recognize. Design: Qualitative study with focus-group interviews. Subjects and setting: Three focus-group interviews were conducted with a total of 15 Norwegian adolescents each with an ill or substance-abusing parent. The participants were recruited from existing support groups. Results: The adolescents’ days were dominated by unpredictability in their family situation and their own exhausting efforts to keep up an ordinary youth life. Mostly, they consulted GPs for somatic complaints. In encounters with the GP, they wanted to be met both as a unique person and as a member of a family with burdens. Their expectations from the GP were partly negatively formed by their experiences. Some had experienced that both their own and their parent’s health problems were not addressed properly. Others reported that the GP did not act when he or she should have been concerned about their adverse life situation. The GP may contribute to better long-term psychosocial outcomes by ensuring that the adolescents receive information about the parent’s illness and have someone to talk to about their feelings and experiences. In addition, the GP may help by supporting their participation in relieving activities. Conclusion: Burdened adolescents seek a GP most often for somatic complaints. The GP has a potential to support them by taking the initiative to talk about their life situation, and by recognizing their special efforts. Key points Little is known about how a general practitioner can support adolescents with ill or substance-abusing parents. Adolescents experience unpredictability in life and strive to find balance between their own needs and the restrictions caused by parental illness. In encounters with adolescents having ill parents, the GP should take the initiative to talk about their family situation. The GP may help them by recognizing their experiences and struggles, give information, offer talks and support coping strategies.