We report a randomized trial of a revised Behavioral Family Systems Therapy for Diabetes (BFST-D) intervention. Families of 104 adolescents with diabetes were randomized to standard care (SC) or to 6 months of an educational support group (ES) or BFST-D. Family communication and problem-solving skills were assessed at 0, 6, 12, and 18 months by…

Family patterns of dysfunction that often reinforce maladaptive behaviors and cognitions of children growing up in an alcoholic home environment are often difficult to overcome. Adjustment issues associated with being an adult child of an alcoholic (ACOA) are presented along with factors that have been identified as being important in developing…

Testimony from a Congressional hearing on police stress and how it affects the well-being of the officers, their families and their work, is presented in this document. An opening statement by Representative Patricia Schroeder is presented. Statements are included from Representatives Frank D. Riggs, George Miller, and Frank R. Wolf. Testimony…

Some of the problems facing parents of handicapped children are considered, and the importance of families planning for the future of their children with chronic disabilities is stressed. In addition to the problems encountered by parents who raise non-handicapped children, parents of a handicapped child must cope with community rejection,…

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, an international law whose purpose is to establish uniform rules to be applied in cases of international child abduction, is described. The Hague Convention requires that children wrongfully removed or retained abroad in connection with parental custody disputes be…

Recounted by the father of a 21-year-old handicapped woman for whom no program has been helpful are his difficulties in obtaining an accurate diagnosis and in communicating with professionals. (CL)

The technique called "two-marriage therapy" (conjoint cotherapy by married cotherapy teams) has been developed to help couples in marital crises to confront the elusive nature of marriage. This paper attempts to show how the presence of a married cotherapy team adds a significant salutary perspective on the marriage in conflict. (Author)

The author examines the three crises he feels family therapy has passed through in the last three decades, including the need to transcend its focus on schizophrenia and to deal with families differing widely in socioeconimic origin. The current challenge is the need for professionalization of the field. (Author)

Comparison of 369 sexually abused children and 318 non-abused children found five variables explaining 20% of the variance including the following: tendency of parent to have negative outlook on life; number of problems the victim's family presents; and victim's perception of some responsibility for the abuse. (DB)

Tested the hypothesis that sequenced patterns of interaction in which mothers deferred control to their sons and sons assumed control would discriminate high- and low-problem single mother-son dyads. In high-problem dyads, compared to low, mothers' submissive communication was more likely to elicit sons' dominant communication and sons' dominant…

Reports series of studies investigating reliability and validity of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD). Results indicated that the FAD has: (1) adequate test-retest reliability, (2) low correlations with social desirability, (3) moderate correlations with other self-report measures of family functioning, and (4) differentiates…

The case study illustrates the ways in which consultation with specialists can add strain to marriages involving disabled children. (CL)

A survey of 38 administrators of rehabilitation centers serving blind and visually impaired persons revealed opinions about the major causes of family problems (such as overprotection and financial problems), suggested means of ameliorating these problems, and decribed other types of family services offered by their agencies. (Author/CL)

Approximately 10% to 15% of children have some chronic health condition; 2% of children in the United States have severe chronic illnesses. Certain problems are common to most families with a chronically ill child: high costs, heavy daily care burden, conflicting professional advice, and social isolation. Early intervention may diminsh handicaps…

Distressed and nondistressed couples held discussions of their major marital problem. Mismatch errors or differences in intent and impact were most likely to occur when the receiver of the message evaluated the message more negatively than it was intended regardless of the group. The results provide some support for both the semantic and…