Caregivers from African American (n=75), Latino (n=25), Vietnamese (n=37), and European American (n=48) backgrounds who brought children to Head Start were interviewed. Most valued the multicultural food experiences and nutrition education in the program. Many felt the program's food services could save them time and money at home. (SK)

Tests a path model of the mediational effects of the quality of relationships between spouse caregivers (N=75) and their impaired partners. Emotional closeness mediated the impact of the partner's cognitive impairment, but not functional impairment, on the caregiver's subjective effectiveness. Conflict had a direct but not a mediating influence on…

Assesses variables associated with increased severity of depressive symptoms among 321 informal caregivers of demented subjects living in the community identified by a Canadian national population-based survey. Measures included patient and caregiver demographics variables, patient behavioral disturbance, activities of daily living and cognitive…

Analyzed child care rules and regulations of four states from Child Care, Cost & Quality study. Found that the limited requirements set for child care personnel and community interaction departed substantially from professional judgments about what is needed in child care settings. Higher personnel standards, explicit emphasis on developmental…

Survey responses from 486 of 3,052North Carolina school-age care providers showed that 94% required staff training and most paid for it, 74% of teachers had less than 5 years of experience, 37% of teachers had a diploma, and 12% had four-year degrees. Areas needing the greatest attention are staff training, salaries, improved staff-to-child…

Four studies assessed adults' latencies to signal they would respond to infant crying as a function of perceived infant distress and contextual information relevant to caregiving. Results suggested that adults' responses are influenced by both acoustic gradations in the cry and the caregiving context. Ratings of degree of distress may be highly,…

Examined concordance between foster mothers' attachment state of mind and infants' attachment quality. Found that two-way correspondence between maternal state of mind and infant attachment quality was similar to that of biological mother-infant dyads. Age at placement was not related to attachment quality. Concordance between maternal state of…

Describes recent research findings which verify that the loss of leisure for caregivers relates to stress and health problems, discussing what parks and recreation professionals can do to help family caregivers lead balanced lives and examining psychological and physical effects of caregiving, caregivers' lack of leisure, the relationship between…

Child-directed speech segments produced by mothers of 2- to 6-month olds varying in self-reported depressive symptoms were assessed on a summation test with 4-month olds of nondepressed mothers. Significant positive summation was obtained in infants tested with speech produced by mothers with comparatively fewer self-reported depressive symptoms…

This paper describes the physical and mental health status of African American grandmothers (N=100) who are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren. Findings suggest that the physical functioning of grandmothers eventually gets to a point that can jeopardize the quality of life for their grandchildren. Suggestions for community practice are…

Purpose: We sought to determine the prevalence of remediable health conditions from in-home geriatric assessments of referred adult protective service (APS) clients suffering elder mistreatment. Design and Methods: We used a retrospective cohort study of 211 APS clients (74% female; age, M = 77 years) in two central New Jersey counties. Results:…

Purpose: The formal-informal dichotomy of home care, which has been a theoretical framework in quantitative and qualitative research, might not be descriptive of older persons' views about their home-care providers. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of older women about the characteristics of their home-care providers. Design and…

Objective: To examine whether children with substantiated maltreatment reports between 4 and 8 years of age differ from children with unsubstantiated reports on any of 10 behavioral and developmental outcomes. Method: Longitudinal data from 806 children and their adult caregivers collected in four US study sites were pooled and analyzed using…

Relational spirituality suggests that strengthening one's relatedness to other people and to sources of meaning beyond self-interest produces joy and vitality, which sustain the capacity to care. This perspective informs a qualitative study of 50 female services providers and social reformers. The interviews revealed that the women's caregiving…

This study investigated the needs of relative caregivers of children in the child welfare system whose parents had HIV. Families of children supported by the state child welfare agency were invited to participate in the study; 17 families reported that HIV affected them and 11 families did not identify HIV as an issue. The findings indicate that…