No abstract

In a study of families of children with Down's syndrome, measures of parent, family and child characteristics were obtained from mothers and fathers. Multivariable analyses investigated their relationships to outcome measures of psychosomatic symptoms of stress and parents' perceived satisfaction with life. Personality factors were related to outcome for both parents. For mothers, the children's levels of behaviour problems, excitability and self-sufficiency were strongly related to outcome. Coping strategies, family relationships and socio-economic factors also showed significant effects. For fathers, child characteristics were not related to outcome. The marital relationship was an important factor and there was evidence that factors external to the family acted as stressors.

Individual in-depth interviews with 14 people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) were conducted, focusing on the experience of living with CFS. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and were analysed for recurrent themes using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Here we present two inter-related themes: ''Negotiating a diagnosis'' and ''Negotiating CFS with loved ones''. Participants reported delay, negotiation and debate over diagnosis: further, they perceived their GPs to be sceptical, disrespectful and to be lacking in knowledge and interpersonal skills. However, participants found delegitimising encounters with their partners more difficult to deal with. Participants viewed such delegitimation as a form of personal rejection; they were hurt by their loved ones' reactions and subsequently pondered the price of love, respect and friendship. The findings are discussed in relation to extant literature, and recommendations for future research are suggested.

The impact of pain beliefs on coping and adjustment is well established. However, less is known about how beliefs unrelated to pain might impact upon this experience. In particular, just world beliefs could impact upon and be influenced by chronic pain, given that pain is not experienced in a vacuum but instead is experienced in a social context where justice issues are potentially salient. The focus of this study was the ability of personal and general just world beliefs to moderate the relationships psychological distress held with pain intensity and disability in chronic pain. The sample (N=95) was recruited from members of arthritis and fibromyalgia support groups to investigate these social beliefs in a controlled community pain context. A cross-sectional, questionnaire design was adopted. The personal just world belief was endorsed significantly more than the general just world belief, and endorsement of the personal just world belief was negatively correlated with pain intensity, disability and psychological distress, while the general just world belief was unrelated to these variables. When interaction terms relating to personal and general just world beliefs were entered simultaneously into regression analyses, the personal just world belief did not predict psychological distress. However, pain intensity positively predicted psychological distress at low but not high levels of the general just world belief, while disability predicted psychological distress at low and high levels of this belief. This suggests that a strong general just world belief has implications for psychological well-being in chronic pain, and as such this belief may occupy a potential coping function in this context.

The attainments in reading, number and writing skills, of 117 children with Down's syndrome, aged 6 to 14 years, were assessed using checklists completed by teachers. In a study of child and family functioning a wide range of variables was measured and the relationships of these to academic attainments were investigated using multivariable analysis. The children's mental age scores were most strongly related to academic attainments scores, but, in addition, type of school attended, gender, chronological age and fathers' scores on a measure of locus of control were significantly related. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for educational placement and curriculum, and the role of fathers in their children's education.